Division  l)S\c 

Section  .T74- 


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ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


SOME  PRESS  NOTICES 

OP  THB  FIRST  EDITION  OF 

ASIA  AND  EUROPE 

By  MEREDITH  TOWNSEND. 

Being  Studies  presenting  the  conclusions  formed 
by  the  Author  in  a long  life  devoted  to  the 
subject  of  the  relations  between  Asia 
and  Europe. 

“If  I could  only  afford  to  buy  one  book  this  summer  I 
should  certainly  choose  Mr.  Meredith  Townsend's.’’ — British 
Weekly. 

“An  extremely  interesting  book,  full  of  knowledge  and 
enthusiasm  and  imagination,  written  in  a singularly  clear  and 
trenchant  style,  and  with  the  method  of  a finished  literary 
artist.  ...  Its  views  are  of  the  greatest  possible  interest  to 
serious  students  of  Politics.  Its  range  is  wide.  It  extends 
from  general  questions  such  as  the  influence  of  Europe  on  Asia 
and  the  mental  exclusion  of  India,  the  progress  of  savage  races, 
and  the  variety  of  Indian  society  to  more  detailed  investigations, 
such  as  the  life  of  Mohammed,  the  core  of  Hindooism,  and  the 
future  of  the  negro." — Pilot . 

“ The  public  interested  in  that  country  (India)  will  do  well  to 
study  the  pages  of  this  volume." — Aihcnaum. 

“ It  would  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  interest  of  this 
remarkable  book,  in  it  Mr.  Meredith  Townsend  deals  with  some 
of  the  most  poignant  problems  that  confront  the  British  people 
as  the  ruler  of  the  greatest  and  most  Asiatic  of  the  Empires  of 
Asia." — Spectator. 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


STUDIES  PRESENTING  THE  CONCLUSIONS 
FORMED  BY  THE  AUTHOR  IN  A LONG 
LIFE  DEVOTED  TO  THE  SUBJECT 
OF  THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN 
ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


BY  MEREDITH 
TOWNSEND 


THIRD  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAM’S  SONS 


Bdtlkr  fc  Tanner, 

The  Selwood  Print  ing  Works, 
Fromb,  and  London. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE «x 

INTRODUCTION i 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  . . 19 

ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  ...  43 

WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA? 82 

THE  CHARM  OF  ASIA  FOR  ASIATICS  . . .120 

ENGLISH  AND  ASIATIC  FEELING  CONTRASTED  . 129 

THE  REFLEX  EFFECT  OF  ASIATIC  IDEAS  . . 137 

THE  MENTAL  SECLUSION  OF  INDIA  . . .146 

THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 155 

v 


VI 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

RACE-HATRED  IN  ASIA  214 

ARAB  COURAGE  220 

INDIAN  ABSTEMIOUSNESS 227 

THE  ASIATIC  NOTION  OF  JUSTICE  . . .235 

THE  “STANDARD  OF  COMFORT”  IN  INDIA  . . 244 

THE  CORE  OF  HINDOOISM 252 

CRUELTY  IN  EUROPE  AND  ASIA  . . . .261 

THE  VARIETY  OF  INDIAN  SOCIETY  . . .268 

THE  VASTNESS  OF  CALAMITIES  IN  ASIA  . . 278 

A TYPICAL  ASIATIC 285 

ALADDIN’S  CAVE 293 

THE  ARABS  OF  THE  DESERT 301 

ASIATIC  PATRIOTISM 309 

• 3*5 


FANATICISM”  IN  THE  EAST 


CONTENTS 

WILL  CONQUEST  VIVIFY  ASIA? 

WHY  TURKEY  LIVES 

TROPICAL  COLONIZATION 

HINDOO  “BARBARISM”  .... 

THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO 

THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  IN  AMERICA  . 

THE  MINDS  OF  SAVAGES 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  SAVAGE  RACES 

THE  CONTEMPT  OF  ASIA  FOR  EUROPE. 

INDEX  


vii 

PAGE 

• 323 

• 330 

• 337 
■ 345 

• 354 

• 362 

* • 370 

• 378 
. 385 

393 


- 


Preface  to  the  Third  Edition 


SINCE  the  publication  of  the  second  edition  of  this 
work  an  event  has  occurred  which  in  the  judgment 
of  the  author  almost  proves  the  correctness  of  its 
main  thesis,  namely  that  Asia , though  it  yields  from 
time  to  time  to  sudden  impact  from  Europe  as  water 
yields  to  a ship , always  flows  back  after  a ripple 
more  or  less  long  drawn  out , without  having  been 
apparently  affected.  An  Asiatic  power , not  of  the 
first-class  either  in  area  or  population , has  challenged 
and  beaten  by  sea  and  land  a first-class  European 
state.  Europe  had  watched  for  some  years  with  great 
intellectual  interest  the  development  of  Japan,  an 
island  kingdom  with  the  area  of  Great  Britain  and  a 
population  estimated  at  forty-five  millions.  "Travel- 
lers and  merchants  reported  that  the  Japanese  while 
possessing  a separate  and  in  its  way  admirable  kind  of 
art , had  assimilated  many  of  the  ideas  and  much  of  the 
mechanical  skill  of  Europe , had  contrived  to  recon- 
cile the  theocratic  and  therefore  absolute  authority  of 
their  sovereign  with  a kind  of  representative  govern- 
ment and  a large  measure  of  personal  freedom , and 

“ & 


X 


PREFACE 


had  organized  an  army  which  those  Englishmen  who 
shared  the  dangers  and  exertions  of  the  war  with 
China  in  1901  pronounced  to  be  singularly  efficient , 
and  which  the  Sikh  officers  in  the  British  service , 
most  unprejudiced  and  competent  judges , admired  as 
distinctly  superior  to  both  the  Russian  and  French 
contingents  in  the  strangely  composite  army  which 
took  Pekin.  Little  attention  was , however , paid  to 
these  reports , and  when , in  February,  \<qo\ffapan,  to 
the  surprise  of  the  Western  world , declared  war  upon 
Russia , the  general  opinion  was  that  she  had  pre- 
sumptuously undertaken  a task  beyona  her  strength. 

The  conceit  of  Europe  was  destined , however , to 
receive  the  rudest  shock  that  it  has  sustained  for 
centuries.  The  Japanese  fleet  destroyed  the  best 
ships  of  the  Russian  squadron  in  Port  Arthur , and 
so  successfully  blockaded  the  remainder  that  they 
were  totally  unable  to  arrest  the  descent  of 
a large  army  upon  the  mainland  of  Manchuria , 
which , besides  occupying  Corea , defeated  in  re- 
peated engagements  the  Russian  army , supposed  to  be 
200,000  strong , under  General  Kuropatkin , and , 
after  a victorious  battle , which  rivalled  in  slaughter 
any  of  the  battles  of  Napoleon , compelled  it  to  en- 
trench itself  on  the  banks  of  the  Shaho.  There  it  has 
since  remained , awaiting  the  heavy  reinforcements 


PREFACE 


xi 


without  which  it  has  no  hope  of  victory.  Meanwhile , 
another  army  besieged  Port  Arthur , of  which  the 
Russian  engineers  had  made  a fortified  position  cer- 
tainly much  stronger  than  Sebastopol , and  believed  by 
all  Russians  and  most  foreign  experts  in  fortification 
to  be  impregnable  except  by  famine.  It  was  defended 
with  heroic  tenacity  for  seven  months , but  during  that 
period  the  "Japanese , who  showed  themselves  utterly 
reckless  of  life  and  who  possessed  an  amazing  store 
of  the  finest  artillery , a store  in  great  part  manu- 
factured by  themselves  during  ten  years  of  careful 
preparation , carried  by  a series  of  assaults,  which  in 
their  daring  and  their  persistence  bewildered  the  most 
experienced  generals  of  Europe , fort  after  fort , and  at 
last , by  the  use  of  tunnels  and  dynamite  compelled  the 
stubborn  general  commanding  the  defence , whose  hero- 
ism extorted  admiration  throughout  Europe , and  even 
in  Tokio  itself  to  surrender — not  indeed  at  discretion , 
for  the  honours  of  war  were  conceded  and  the  battle- 
ships in  the  harbour  were  blown  up , but  in  a complete 
manner , 2y,oooRussians  being  sent  prisoners  to  Japan. 
Europe  gasped.  It  had  forgotten  the  history  of  the 
Arabs  under  the  generals  of  the  early  Khalifate  and 
of  the  Mongols  under  Jenghis  Khan  and  was  simply 
astounded  to  hear  of  Asiatic  soldiers  who  died  as 
recklessly  as  the  best  Russian  or  German  troops , who. 


xii 


PREFACE 


to  mention  only  one  incident  in  a thousand , when  four 
times  repulsed  received  the  fifth  order  to  advance  with 
shouts  of  delight , and  who  maintained  their  energy 
and  their  discipline  in  night  assaults  as  completely  as 
in  skirmishes  by  daylight. 

It  was  recognized  at  once  that  a new  Great 
Power  had  been  born  and  that  the  history  of  Asia 
had  arrived  at  a turning  point ; but  some  features  of 
this  great  event  have  still  been  missed  by  Europe  at 
large , though  they  begin  to  be  perceived  by  a few  of 
the  great  professionals.  One,  perhaps  the  most  striking 
of  these  features,  is  that  the  "Japanese  have  accom- 
plished their  astonishing  feats  of  war  without  any 
of  those  special  sources  of  strength  which  have 
usually  marked  Asiatic  successes.  They  have 
moved  to  battle,  to  use  Macaulay  s well-known 
words , with  the  precision  of  machines  and  the 
enthusiasm  of  Crusaders,  but  they  have  not  been 
animated  as  the  Arabs  were  by  any  new  creed, 
or  led,  as  conquering  armies  have  almost  invari- 
ably been,  by  men  of  exceptional  genius  for  war. 
Japan  has  produced  no  Alexander,  no  Jenghis 
Khan,  no  Napoleon  ; her  generals  have  been  com- 
petent and  marvellously  persistent,  but  nothing 
more.  They  have  applied  the  old  principles  of 
war  in  their  fullest  perfection,  but  they  have  evolved 


PREFACE 


xiii 

nothing  new  and  have  repeatedly  displayed  a cer- 
tain slowness , as  if  when  a battle  was  won  they 
had  to  think  out  the  next  manoeuvres.  The  beaten 
army  on  the  mainland  repeatedly  had  time  to  re- 
form, and  though  the  expenditure  of  life  in  the 
different  actions  has  been  almost  unprecedented , the 
\ Pursuit  has  almost  always  been  feeble  or  ineffec- 
tual. This  is  probably  due  to  a fact  which  differ- 
entiates the  Japanese  army  from  almost  all  great 
armies  of  Asiatics , the  absence  in  their  forces  of 
those  masses  of  cavalry  with  which  the  Parthian 
or  Arab  or  Mongol  leaders  practically  destroyed 
the  shattered  regiments  of  their  foes.  It  is,  more- 
over, to  be  noted  that  the  Japanese  have  relied 
upon  what  Europeans  call  science  to  a degree  un- 
precedented in  Asiatic  warfare.  The  letters  of 
Russian  officers  from  the  fields  of  battle  are  full 
of  complaints  of  the  superiority  of  their  artillery. 
They  invented  early  in  the  campaign  a new  and 
more  explosive  powder  for  their  shells.  In  the 
siege  of  Port  Arthur  they  kept  up  sometimes  for 
weeks  such  a continuous  stream  of  fire  that  the 
Russian  soldiery  could  not  sleep,  and  one  so  well 
directed  that  during  the  last  week  of  the  siege  a 
Russian  staff  officer  declares  with  pardonable  ex- 
aggeration that  he  could  find  no  room  for  his  foot 


XIV 


PREFACE 


for  the  "Japanese  shells.  Moreover , the  Japanese 
have  throughout  shown  most  singular  powers  of 
self-restraint , and  though  the  men  are  for  the 
most  part  unfamiliar  with  war , and  are  in  fact 
peasants  and  coolies  trained  only  for  a few  months, 
there  has  been  from  first  to  last  no  rumour  of 
disobedience  or  of  retreat  while  the  officers  remained 
fighting.  The  telegrams  from  Tokio  have  been 
truthful ; the  proclamations  of  the  Mikado  and  the 
speeches  of  his  ministers  have  been  coldly  reticent, 
and  the  news  of  victory,  even  the  startling  victory 
over  Port  Arthur , has  been  received  without  the 
smallest  disturbance  of  social  equanimity.  There 
has,  in  fact,  been  something  Roman,  as  Rome  ap- 
peared to  Livy,  in  the  demeanour  of  the  Japanese,  a 
something  evident  also  in  the  silent  but  irresistible 
action  of  their  conscription,  which , as  in  Arabia 
under  the  early  Caliphs,  or  in  Mongolia  under  the 
chiefs  who  followed  Jenghis , is  enforced  both  by 
opinion  and  the  law.  There  is  no  resistance  and  no 
wish  to  resist,  for  in  Japan  it  seems  certain  that  the 
really  governing  philosophy  is  “ Bushido which  may 
best  be  translated  by  knightliness  of  thought. 

It  is  clear  that  Japan  is  a great  State,  entitled  to 
a place  among  the  civilized  communities  which  now 
claim  the  right  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the  world. 


PREFACE 


xv 


'There  is  no  state  which  will  make  war  on  it  without 
adequate  provocation , or  which , even  if  the  provoca- 
tion is  severe  will  not  hesitate  to  incur  the  losses  and  the 
risks  which  any  war  with  "Japan  must  involve  to  any 
power.  Her  force  is  acknowledged,  and  the  only 
question  for  Europe  now  is  what  she  will  ultimately 
do  with  it.  The  German  Emperor  and  a great  many 
literary  men  have  expressed  a fear  that  she  will 
dominate  China , and  with  the  endless  resources  of  that 
over-numerous  people  repeat  once  again  the  victories 
of  the  Tartar  horsemen.  It  is,  however,  most  un- 
likely that  the  “ Yellow  Peril f if  a peril  is  to 
develop,  will  take  this  form.  An  attack  upon  Europe, 
even  if  successful,  would  hardly  benefit  Japan,  and 
success  in  so  vast  an  enterprise  would  be  exceedingly 
improbable.  Europe  contains  200  millions  of  men, 
half  of  whom  will  perish  rather  than  submit  to  an 
Asiatic  domination.  Her  science  has  long  since  taken 
a military  trend,  and  she  cannot  be  deprived,  if  united 
for  defence,  of  her  command  of  the  sea.  The  mere 
feeding  of  the  masses  of  men  who  would  be  required  to 
reach,  say,  Vienna,  which  the  Mongols  once  threatened 
but  never  took,  would  strain  all  the  resources  of  the 
Yellow  Peoples,  who,  it  must  also  be  remarked,  are 
no  longer , as  the  early  Mongols  were,  the  riding  tribes 
of  the  world.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Japan,  if  vie- 


XVI 


PREFACE 


torious , will  gradually  develop  great  ambitions,  as  all 
other  victorious  States  have  done , but  much  of  her 
ambition  will  be  sated  by  the  Protectorate  of  China , 
which  no  one  can  keep  from  her , and  by  the  conquest 
and  settlement  of  the  great  system  of  islands  which 
stretches  down  from  Nagasaki  to  Australia.  It  has 
been  repeatedly  asserted  that , seeing  her  absolute  neces- 
sity for  territorial  expansion  and  the  vastness  and 
weakness  of  Australia , the  statesmen  of  Japan  will 
as  time  advances , make  some  great  effort  to  conquer 
and  occupy  the  island  continent  of  the  Southern 
Pacific.  If  Australia  were  left  to  itself  \ this,  judg- 
ing by  the  usual  course  of  historic  events,  would  become 
the  permanent  policy  of  the  new  Power.  It  would  pos- 
sibly also  be  a successful  policy,  for  the  Australians, 
with  a want  of  prudence  which  is  almost  inexplicable, 
have  discouraged  European  immigration  ; they  do  not 
themselves  multiply  rapidly  ; and  they  are  scattered 
around  the  fringe  of  a vast  continent  full  of  harbours. 
They  are,  compared  with  the  Japanese,  a feeble  folk, 
not  one  tenth  their  number.  Although  they  are  brave, 
they  have  not  been  trained  to  war,  they  have  as  yet 
organized  no  great  armies,  they  object  to  waste  money 
on  the  huge  arsenals  which  could  provide  a whole 
nation  with  scientific  weapons,  and  if  attacked,  as  the 
Japanese  would  attack  them,  their  States  being  invaded 


PREFACE 


xvn 


one  by  one , they  would  probably  in  three  years  be  hope- 
lessly crushed  and  driven  into  the  untenable  interior. 
No  such  catastrophe  is,  however,  within  calculable 
distance,  unless  indeed  Australia  quarrels  with  Great 
Britain.  The  British  fleet  is  still  irresistible  ; it 
would  perish  before  Australia  should  be  touched ; and 
neither  fapan  nor  China  can  hope  to  do  what  a coali- 
tion of  the  older  maritime  powers  shrinks  from  doing. 

fapan,  moreover,  though  naturally  an  expand- 
ing power,  because  its  people  are  too  numerous  and 
because  they  are  vain,  has,  like  Great  Britain,  the 
commercial  instinct.  She  will  seek  in  the  first 
place  to  obtain  the  control  of  the  commerce  of  China, 
and  will  then  fill  all  the  ports  of  Asia  with  her 
merchantmen  and  her  traders.  It  is  more  than 
possible  that  her  people,  who  are  thoughtful  and 
anxious  for  gain,  will  seek  to  benefit  by  their  victories 
rather  in  commerce  and  manufactures  than  in  terri- 
torial acquisitions.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  taken 
as  certain  that  the  victory  of  fapan  will  be  pro- 
foundly felt  by  the  majority  of  European  States. 
With  the  exception  of  Austria,  all  European 
countries  have  implicated  themselves  in  the  great 
effort  to  conquer  Asia,  which  has  now  been  going  on 
for  two  centuries,  but  which,  as  this  author  thinks, 
must  now  terminate . fapan  cannot  like,  even  if 


xviii 


PREFACE 


she  imitates , the  powers  which , while  professing 
friendships  unanimously  refuse  to  admit  Japanese 
into  their  possessions , on  the  ground  that  they  are  an 
inferiors  or  at  all  events  an  uncivilized  people.  In 
Australia  and  in  all  North  America  the  Japanese  are 
already  unwelcomes  and  if  they  should  try  to  populate 
the  thinly  peopled  and  rich  regions  of  South  America 
the  haughty  Spaniards  would  refuse  them  admittance 
and  be  backed  in  their  refusal  by  the  supporters  of 
the  Monroe  doctrine.  The  dispositions  therefores  to 
edge  out  intrusive  Europeans  from  their  Asiatic 
possessions  is  certain  to  exist  even  if  it  is  not 
manifested  in  Tokio,  and  it  may  be  fostered  by  a 
movement  of  which , as  yets  but  little  has  been  said. 
No  one  who  has  ever  studied  the  question  doubts  that 
as  there  is  a comity  of  Europe , so  there  is  a comity 
of  Asia s a disposition  to  believe  that  Asia  belongs  of 
right  to  Asiatics , and  that  any  event  which  brings 
that  right  nearer  to  realization  is  to  all  Asiatics  a 
pleasurable  one.  "Japanese  victories  will  give  new 
heart  and  energy  to  all  the  Asiatic  nations  and  to  tribes 
which  now  fret  under  European  rule , will  inspire  in 
them  a new  confidence  in  their  own  power  to  resist , 
and  will  spread  through  them  a strong  hnpulse  to  avail 
themselves  of  Japanese  instruction.  It  will  take , 
of  course , many  years  to  bring  this  new  force  into  play , 


PREFACE 


xix 


for  no  Asiatic  people , except  the  'Turks , possesses 
what  Mr.  Parnell  called  “ the  plant  of  an  armed 
revolution  ” ; but  time  matters  nothing  to  Asiatics , 
and  they  all  possess  that  capacity  for  complete  secrecy 
which  the  Japanese  displayed  for  the  ten  years 
during  which  they  were  arming  for  their  great 
struggle  with  Russia.  If,  therefore,  it  is  one  of  the 
permanent  conditions  of  history,  as  this  writer  believes, 
that  Pur  ope  should  not  permanently  occupy  Asia  or 
Asia  conquer  Europe , the  rise  of  Japan  into  a 
great  Power  must  by  degrees  increase  the  difficulty 
for  Europe  of  remaining  in  profitable  possession  of 
great  sections  of  Asia.  Remember , Asia  contains 

at  least  eighty  millions  of  fighting  men,  of  whom 
the  immense  majority  believe  their  position  after  death 
to  be  tolerably  secure,  and  therefore  regard  death  with 
a fearlessness  which  Europe  has,  in  a measure,  lost. 
The  operation  of  the  new  tendency  might  be  delayed 
for  a century  if  Europe  would  gratify  the  pride  of 
Japan  by  a complete  and  full  admission  into  the 
European  family ; but  if  history  proves  anything, 
it  proves  that  the  colour  prejudice,  whether  well 
founded  or  not,  is  incurable,  that  even  similarity  of 
creed  will  not  bind  together  races  radically  distinct  in 
colour  from  each  other  ; and  that  the  strange  destiny 
which  has  filled  the  three  ancient  continents  with  men 


XX 


PREFACE 


of  three  separate  colours  has  its  root  in  some  law  of 
the  mind  which  never  changes , or  some  decision  of 
Providence  from  which  there  can  be  no  appeal.  Asia , 
strengthened  by  the  leadership  of  Japan , will , as  I 
believe , recover  the  independence  which  she  will  in 
all  human  probability  once  more  misuse. 


Preface  to  the  First  Edition 


I THINK  it  advisable  to  say  that  this  volume , 
though  it  consists — the  Introduction  excepted — of 
reprints  from  the  “ Contemporary  Review the 
old  “ National  Review and  the  “ Spectator w 
not  like  many  such  reprints  a bundle  of  disconnected 
thoughts.  All  the  papers  are  directed  to  one  end, 
a description  of  those  inherent  differences  between 
Europe  and  Asia  which  forbid  one  continent  perma- 
nently to  conquer  the  other.  The  struggle  between 
Europe  and  Asia  is  the  binding  thread  of  history ; 
the  trade  between  Europe  and  Asia  is  the  foundation 
of  commerce  ; the  thought  of  Asia  is  the  basis  of 
all  European  religions  : but  the  fusion  of  the 

Continents  has  never  occurred,  and  in  the  Author  s 
best  judgement  will  never  occur.  It  is  rather  a sad- 
dening reflection  that  the  thoughts  of  so  many  years 
are  all  summed  up  by  a great  poet 1 in  four  lines  : 

The  East  bowed  low  before  the  blast , 

In  patient  deep  disdain  ; 

She  let  the  legions  thunder  past , 

Then  plunged  in  thought  again. 

1 Matthetv  Arnold 


XXI 


XXII 


PREFACE 


But  the  insight  of  the  poet  always  goes  deeper  than 
the  calculation  of  the  thinker. 

I have  added  two  papers  on  the  negro , of  whose 
destiny  I am  not  hopeful.  Crossed  with  Arab  or 
Hindoo j he  may  have  a future , but  uncrossed  there 
is  some  source  of  failure  in  him — probably  a defect 
of  power  to  accumulate  thought — which  will  leave 
him  far  behind , as  it  has  left  him  for  three  thousand 
years  on  the  Congo. 

I must  add  that , as  will  be  perceived , I have 
said  nothing  of  the  possible  influence  of  America 
upon  Asia  — first,  because  it  does  not  enter 
into  my  subject ; and  secondly , because  I hardly 
care  to  speculate  on  a future  as  to  which  history 
can  give  no  light.  I may  however  just  say  here 
that  although  America  must  by  and  by  greatly 
influence  Asia , its  influence  will  hardly  be  favour- 
able to  conquest.  It  will  more  probably  be  one  of 
the  many  which  will  make  permanent  conquest  im- 
possible. When  once  the  Nicaragua  Canal  has 
been  cut  the  trade  of  the  United  States  with  Farther 
Asia  will  be  one  of  the  greatest  the  world  has  seen , 
and  Asia  will  fill  a large  space  in  American 
imaginations , always  influenced  by  the  spectacle  of 
the  gigantic.  All  manner  of  traders  will  seek  her 


1 This  is  happening  in  Natal  and  Uganda. 


PREFACE  xxiii 


coasts , and  all  manner  of  concessionaires  will  rifle 
the  riches  of  the  interior.  All  manner  of  mission- 
aries will  be  attracted  by  her  millions , and  all 
manner  of  educating  agencies  will  make  Asia  their 
field  of  operation.  The  suave  and  humorous 
American  will  possibly  become  the  most  popular  of 
white  men  with  Asiatics,  and  may  be  able  to  convey 
to  them  ideas  more  acceptably  than  any  other. 
Nevertheless  the  American  will  not  rule  the  Asiatic. 
The  fissure  between  the  races  is  very  wide , and  as 
yet  has  proved  impassable.  The  American  can 
never  like  any  one  not  of  his  own  colour , he 
will  never  mix  on  a footing  of  equality  with  any 
other ; and  the  Chinaman  in  San  Francisco  no 
more  becomes  an  American  than  the  Chinaman  in 
Calcutta  becomes  a Bengalee.  Lastly , the  American 
has  no  interest  in  conquering  Asia.  He  does  not 
wish  for  territory  already  occupied  by  masses  of 
people — he  has  ample  room  for  settlement  in  his  own 
hemisphere  — and  he  does  not  believe  sovereignty 
absolutely  essential  to  trade.  It  will  be  easier  to 
acquire  influence  in  Asia  by  protecting  her  from 
conquest  than  to  begin  conquering ; and  this , I 
think , will  in  the  end  be  the  American  line , as 
indeed  in  China  it  already  is.  For  reasons  of  trade , 
for  reasons  of  kindly  regard  and  for  reasons  of 


XXIV 


PREFACE 


jealousy  the  attitude  of  America  will,  I imagine , be 
one  of  rather  contemptuous  guardianship. 

I have  to  thank  the  Editors  of  the  “ Contemporary 
Review  ” and  “ Spectator  ” for  their  kindness  in 
permitting  reprint , and  I only  wish  I could  thank 
the  Editor  of  the  old  “ National .R.  H.  Hutton , 
but  alas  ! he  has  passed  to  the  majority.  For  forty 
years  his  strongest  approval  was  given  to  the  drift 
of  these  papers. 


MEREDITH  TOWNSEND 


Introduction 


I AM  emboldened  to  publish  these  Essays  which 
have  all  the  same  object,  namely  to  make  Asia 
stand  out  clearer  to  English  eyes,  because  it  is  evi- 
dent to  me  that  the  white  races  under  the  pressure 
of  an  entirely  new  impulse  are  about  to  renew  their 
periodic  attempt  to  conquer  or  at  least  to  dominate 
that  vast  continent.  Alexander  of  Macedon,  the 
supreme  genius  for  war  produced  by  the  ancient 
world,  made  the  attempt  in  order  to  realize  a vain- 
glorious dream.  The  rulers  of  the  Roman  Republic 
renewed  it  in  pursuance  of  a steady  policy  of  con- 
quering as  much  of  the  world  as  they  could  reach, 
and  as  might  be  expected  to  pay.  The  Crusaders 
essayed  the  task  once  more  in  order  to  rescue  the 
birthland  of  Christianity  from  the  infidel,  and  to 
found  amidst  the  debris  of  the  Eastern  Empire 
kingdoms  and  principalities  for  highborn  men,  to 
whom  Europe  afforded  little  hope  of  aggrandize- 
ment or  even  maintenance.  Then  the  idea  slept  for 
five  hundred  years,  during  which  Europe  almost 
forgot  Asia,  ceasing  to  record  its  history  or  even 
to  explore  its  vast  divisions.  At  length  in  the 


2 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


seventeens  and  eigh  teens  Russia  and  England 
stirred,  one  seizing  on  the  vast  and  secluded  terri- 
tory which  extends  through  Northern  Asia  in  an 
unbroken  block  from  the  Ural  to  the  North  Pacific, 
the  other  the  equally  vast  and  secluded  Peninsula 
which  stretches  southward  from  the  Western  Hima- 
laya far  down  into  the  waters  of  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Neither  Russia  nor  England  knew  precisely  what 
they  were  doing  ; they  did  not  formulate  to  them- 
selves any  “ grand  plan,”  nor  were  they  clearly 
conscious  of  any  impulse,  both  going  steadily  on- 
ward, sometimes  most  reluctantly,  as  if  driven  for- 
ward by  an  invisible  power  toward  some  end  which 
they  did  not  pretend  to  see,  but  vaguely  hoped  would 
in  some  way  be  advantageous. 

Now,  however,  a greater  movement  is  being 
commenced  from  a motive  which  is  at  once  clear 
and  conscious.  The  European  peoples  are  tired 
of  the  poverty  in  which,  despite  their  consider- 
able advance  in  civilization  and  their  immense 
advance  in  applied  science,  their  masses  are  still 
condemned  to  live.  The  white  races,  in  obedience 
to  some  law  of  which  they  know  nothing,  increase 
with  amazing  rapidity,1  and  in  Europe,  which  is 

1 I call  the  rapidity  “amazing”  because  we  know  nothing  of 
its  causes.  The  popular  notion  is  that  population  increases  with 
plenty,  but  it  is  unsupported  by  facts.  A patriciat  which  eats  and 
drinks  as  much  as  it  will,  works  at  its  own  discretion,  and  lives  in 
healthy  houses,  almost  invariably  dies  out — the  reason  why  there 
are  now  no  pedigrees  which  cross  the  gulf  between  the  new  and 
the  old  civilizations.  Our  own  people  in  Elizabeth’s  time  were 


INTRODUCTION 


3 


not  a very  fertile  continent,  there  is  not  enough 
wealth  to  go  round.  There  is  uneasiness  every- 
where, suffering  in  all  cities,  strange  outbursts  of 
envy  and  malice  against  the  rich  in  all  countries 
except  Great  Britain.  The  rulers  reign  in  con- 
stant dread  of  explosions  from  below,  the  sub- 
jects are  penetrated  with  the  idea  that  agriculture 
is  played  out,  and  that  the  “ money  ” which  is 
the  foundation  of  comfort  can  only  come  from  a 
vast  development  of  trade.  Both  are  told  by  their 
experts  that  great  markets  can  only  be  found  in 
Asia,  where  the  majority  of  the  human  race  has 
elected  to  dwell,  and  where  it  has  aggregated  itself 
into  masses  so  great,  that  commerce  with  them  must 
always  produce  a maximum  of  profit.  It  is  better 
to  sell  at  ten  per  cent,  to  Hindoos  or  Chinese  than 
at  forty  per  cent,  to  the  people  of  Brazil. 

These  trades  again,  the  experts  say,  must  be  pro- 
tected by  sovereign  rights  over  the  markets,  for  if  not 

fairly  fed  but  scarcely  increased,  while  the  Irish  poor,  when  suffer- 
ing from  terrible  poverty,  doubled  their  numbers.  The  natives  of 
India  who  are  as  a mass  so  poor  that  two  years’  drought  sweeps 
them  off  in  myriads,  and  the  people  of  Russia  who  live  on  the 
edge  of  misery,  multiply  like  flies;  while  the  Jews  who  are  every- 
where, and  at  least  as  prosperous  as  those  around  them,  scarcely 
increase  at  all.  R.  L.  Stevenson’s  marvellous  picture  of  the  decay 
of  the  Marquesans,  suggests  that  the  cause  of  increase  or  decay  is 
in  some  way  mental,  and  this  view  is  strengthened  by  what  we 
know  of  the  blight  which  falls  on  some  savage  races  from  the  mere 
presence  of  civilized  man.  But  we  know  too  little  of  mental  pro- 
cesses to  make  this  conjecture  the  basis  of  a conviction.  All 
that  is  certain  is  that  plenty  or  penury  are  not  the  main  causes  of 
increase  or  decay. 


4 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


the  energetic  Anglo-Saxon,  with  his  skill  in  making 
machines  and  his  habitude  of  the  ocean  waters,  will 
monopolize  the  whole.  Russia  therefore  rushes  on 
Manchuria,  the  splendid  province  which  intervenes 
between  herself  and  the  Pacific,  and  lays  trains  for 
the  conquest  of  Persia  and  Turkey.  Germany  tries 
to  assert  herself  in  Anatolia,  and  does  assert  herself 
in  Shantung.  Great  Britain,  already  sovereign  in 
India,  claims  the  giant  valley  of  the  Yang-tse. 
France  sighs  to  add  Siam,  Yunnan,  Szechuen  and 
Hainan,  to  Indo-China,  already  counted  among  her 
colonies.  And  America,  taking  the  Philippines  as  a 
dockyard  and  watchtower,  loudly  proclaims  that 
whoever  is  debarred  from  the  profits  of  Asiatic 
trade  she  will  never  be.  So  grand  is  the  prize  that 
failures  will  not  daunt  the  Europeans,  still  less  alter 
their  conviction.  If  these  movements  follow  historic 
lines  they  will  recur  for  a time  upon  a constantly 
ascending  scale,  each  repulse  eliciting  a greater 
effort,  until  at  last  Asia  like  Africa  is  “ partitioned,” 
that  is  each  section  is  left  at  the  disposal  of  some 
white  people.  If  Europe  can  avoid  internal  war,  or 
war  with  a much  aggrandized  America,  she  will  by 
a.  d.  2,000  be  mistress  in  Asia,  and  at  liberty  as  her 
people  think  to  enjoy. 

I am  unable  with  such  light  as  I have  from  his- 
tory to  believe  that  this  effort,  the  fourth  within  the 
historic  period,  will  be  permanently  successful,  the 
genius  of  the  two  continents  being  too  distinct;  but  in 
this  introduction  I only  wish  to  point  out  clearly 


INTRODUCTION 


5 


the  amazing  magnitude  of  the  task  which  Europe, 
almost  without  reflection  and  entirely  without  study, 
is  declaring  itself  in  many  ways  and  through  a mul- 
titude of  spokesmen  willing  to  undertake.  Asia  is 
no  vast  plain  misused  by  a few  dark  tribes,  whose 
disappearance  or  whose  misery  will  matter  nothing 
to  the  progress  of  the  world.  Asia  is  the  largest  of 
the  continents,  forty-one  times  the  size  of  France,  and 
owing  to  its  higher  mountains  and  loftier  plateaus,  and 
immense  expanses  of  river- made  culturable  swamp, 
is  among  them  all  the  most  difficult  to  traverse. 
Its  plateaus  are  countries  ; its  deltas  would  hold, 
indeed  have  held,  great  kingdoms.  Empires  have 
risen,  flourished,  and  died  in  comparatively  small 
divisions  of  its  mass.  Persia  is  in  it  but  a province 
it  is  possible  to  forget.  Asiatic  Turkey,  the  home 
alike  of  ancient  and  modern  empires  is  but  one 
fringe  of  the  continent,  the  Chinese  Empire  is 
but  another.  The  great  Mogul  ruled  only  one 
peninsula  of  its  far  South.  Thibet,  which  is  to  most 
white  men  but  a name,  is  larger  than  France — a 
France  hung  in  the  sky  at  an  average  height  of 
11,000  feet  above  sea  level.  Afghanistan,  which 
the  English  think  of  as  a turbulent  little  kingdom 
on  the  skirt  of  their  own  dominion,  is  40,000  square 
miles  larger  than  France  ; while  Siam,  of  which  they 
hardly  think  at  all  except  as  a steamy  province  for 
which  French  statesmen  intrigue,  exceeds  all  Ger- 
many in  size  by  more  than  100,000  square  miles.  It 
would  take  ten  armies  each  of  100,000  men  merely  to 


6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


penetrate  and  in  a military  sense  garrison  Asia,  which 
is  for  the  most  part  a huge  mass  far  from  the  sea,  with 
few  river  inlets,  and  capable  of  subjugation  only  by 
land  armies. 

Size,  however,  is  not  the  most  important  ob- 
stacle to  conquest,  for  after  all  South  America  is 
Spanish  and  Portuguese,  but  Asia  holds  at  least 
four  times  the  population  of  Europe,  sometimes  no 
doubt  thinly  scattered,  but  sometimes  packed  to  a 
point  of  which  the  packing  of  Belgium  or  Lanca- 
shire gives  but  a faint  idea.1  We  think  of  these 
masses  of  men  as  feeble  folk,  but  one  single  section 
of  them  never  seen  outside  their  own  peninsula,  the 
warrior  races  of  India,  outnumber  all  who  speak 
English  ; while  a single  race  of  formidable  fighters, 
capable  of  discipline,  in  a group  of  islands  off  the  coast, 
the  Japanese,  are  more  numerous  than  the  French. 
When  the  Mongol,  or  rather  a small  federation  of 
tribes  from  among  a division  of  the  Mongols,  first 
burst  out  of  his  steppe  he  reached  France,  and  on 
the  plain  of  Chalons  nearly  overthrew  the  Roman 
Empire.  When  the  Arabs,  never  fourteen  millions 
strong,  debouched  from  their  deserts,  they  defeated 
both  Eastern  Rome  and  Persia,  extirpated  the  Van- 

1 The  total  population  of  Asia  is  and  must  remain  uncertain, 
but  the  best  recent  accounts  bring  it  up  to  close  on  nine  hundred 
millions.  Of  these  the  Mongols,  including  of  course  the  Chinese, 
Indo-Chinese  and  Japanese,  number  more  than  five  hundred 
millions.  Lord  Auckland  used  to  say,  as  matter  for  strange 
thoughts,  that  the  Emperor  of  China  and  himself  governed  half 
the  human  race,  and  still  found  time  for  breakfast. 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


dais  of  North  Africa,  conquered  Spain,  and  after 
their  first  energy  had  decayed,  drove  the  picked 
chivalry  of  Europe  out  of  Palestine.  When  the 
third  Asiatic  explosion  took  place,  the  Mongol 
conquered  China  and  India,  which  he  kept,  and 
Russia,  which  he  only  lost  after  two  centuries,  and 
made  all  Europe  tremble  lest  by  defeating  Austria  he 
should  acquire  dominance  through  the  whole  west. 
Intermediately,  a little  Asiatic  tribe  seated  itself  in 
Anatolia,  warred  down  the  Eastern  Empire  of  Rome, 
threatened  all  Central  Europe,  and  to  this  hour 
retains  the  glorious  provinces  which  it  oppresses  only 
because,  by  the  consent  of  all  who  have  observed 
him,  the  Turk  is  the  best  individual  soldier  in  the 
world.  Three  Asiatic  soldiers,  the  Turk,  the  Sikh, 
and  the  Japanese,  have  adopted  European  arms  and 
discipline,  and  no  man  can  say  if  either  of  the  three 
encountered  Russian  armies  which  would  be  the 
victor,  yet  Europe  does  not  consider  defeating 
Russians  a light  task.  Taking  the  figures  of  the 
German  conscription  as  our  guide,  there  are  in  Asia 
eighty  millions  of  potential  soldiers,  of  whom  cer- 
tainly one  fifth  know  the  use  of  weapons. 

But  these  masses  of  humanity,  even  if  capable 
of  battle,  are,  it  is  said,  so  incapable  of  the  improve- 
ments which  constitute  civilization,  that  except  as 
buyers  of  goods  they  hardly  deserve  respect  from 
Europeans.  Is  that  quite  true?  These  Asiatics 
who  are  accounted  so  despicable  have  devised  and 
kept  up  for  ages,  without  exhausting  the  soil  or  im- 


8 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


porting  food,  a system  of  agriculture  which  sustains  in 
health  and  even  comfort  a population  often  thicker 
than  that  of  any  European  state.  They  understand 
agricultural  hydraulics  perfectly,  and  have  executed 
hydraulic  works,  canals  and  tanks,  which  are  the 
admiration  of  European  engineers.  They  have 
covered  entire  provinces,  Bengal  for  example,  with 
fruit  trees  which  Englishmen  pronounce  equal  to 
their  own.  From  the  days  of  Babylon  to  the  days 
of  Bombay  they  have  covered  their  continent  with 
great  cities,  some  of  which  contain  marvels  of  archi- 
tecture, while  all  have  been  warehouses  for  immense 
trades,  centres  of  great  banking  systems,  or  chosen 
seats  of  men  who  have  conquered  or  legislated  for 
or  administered  great  empires.1 

Asiatics  have  selected  all  the  sites  of  great  cities  in 
Asia  save  two,  and  while  Damascus  is  older  than 
Paris  or  London,  Benares  is  as  original  as  Venice, 
and  Jeypore  more  picturesque  than  Nuremberg.  In 
all  those  cities  great  populations,  sometimes  exceed- 

1 There  must  be  a great  native  banking  system  in  China,  or 
internal  trade  could  not  go  on,  and  to  the  existence  of  one  in 
India  every  Anglo-Indian  can  bear  testimony.  I myself  received 
for  ten  years  thousands  of  native  hoondees  or  cheques  every  year, 
scraps  of  tissue  paper  covered  with  unknown  characters.  I never 
knew  one  dishonoured.  I once  asked  the  manager  of  the  greatest 
European  bank,  who  I knew  was  making  great  remittances  in 
native  cheques  to  Bombay,  if  he  were  not  occasionally  afraid  of 
such  paper.  “ No  more,”  he  said,  “than  I am  afraid  of  Bank  of 
England  notes.”  I may  add  that  Asiatic  bankers  seem  to  have 
defeated  forgery,  and  that  they  have  devised  a system  of  insurance 
for  river  traffic,  called  in  India  “ beema,”  which  works  excellently 
well. 


INTR  OD  UCTION 


9 


ing  that  of  any  city  in  Europe  up  to  1800  have  dwelt 
— under  it  is  true  insanitary  conditions  nearly  as  bad 
as  those  of  Naples  fifty  years  ago — but  in  peace  and 
security  without  insurrections  or  any  grave  danger, 
save  from  their  own  rulers,  to  life  and  property. 
Asiatics  built  the  Alhambra  and  the  Taj,  the 
temples  above  the  ghauts  of  Benares,  and  the  fan- 
tastic towers  of  Nankin.  Asiatics  unassisted  by 
Europeans  have  carried  all  the  arts,  save  sculpture 
and  painting,  to  a high  degree  of  perfection,  so  that 
learned  men  have  written  volumes  to  explain  their 
architecture;  and  while  no  pottery  can  excel  Chinese 
porcelain,  no  swordsmith  a Damascus  blade,  no 
goldsmith  will  promise  to  improve  on  a Trichino- 
poly  chain. 

No  doubt  they  have  halted  everywhere  in  their 
march  towards  mastery  of  nature.  Some  strange 
fiat  of  arrest,  probably  due  to  mental  exhaustion, 
has  condemned  the  brown  men  and  the  yellow 
men  to  eternal  reproduction  of  old  ideas.  They 
have  treated  earth  as  if  they  feared  it.  Dung 
is  burnt  for  fuel  above  unused  coal-bearing  strata. 
Asiatics  work  in  all  metals,  yet  from  end  to  end  of 
Asia  great  stores  of  iron  or  platinum  and  tin,  of 
copper,  silver  and  gold  lie  untouched,  waiting  the 
touch  of  the  European  spoiler.  All  must  have  been 
found  ages  since,  or  whence  the  stores  existing 
before  trade  with  Europe  began,  and  if  the  energy 
in  digging  which  was  there  once  had  continued, 
even  the  riches  of  Asia  would  by  this  time  have 


10 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


been  exhausted.  Notwithstanding  this  great  defect 
the  Asiatics  have  practised  all  necessary  arts,  and 
except  in  machinery  can  make  and  do  all  that 
Europeans  can  make  and  do.1  They  are  in  fact 
civilized  peoples,  though  their  civilization  has  been 
arrested,  perhaps  by  the  adoption  of  a belief  not 
unknown  in  Europe,  that  perfection  has  been 
attained  and  that  the  path  of  wisdom  for  all, 
whether  thinker  or  artist  or  artisan,  is  incessant 
repetition.  That  is  the  line  of  least  resistance,  and 
it  has  been  followed  so  contentedly  and  so  far  that 
fashion,  which  in  Europe  is  peremptory  and  end- 
lessly capricious,  is  in  Asia  peremptory  but  unchange- 
able. Europe  condemns  or  despises,  but  the 
question,  “ If  a thing  is  good  and  convenient  why 
change  it  ? ” is  a rare  conservator  of  energy. 

But  after  all,  man  lives  by  thought,  and  are  not 
the  thoughts  of  Asiatics  feeble  ? In  one  way,  yes. 
The  Asiatic  is  the  slave  of  superstition ; he  can 
believe  in  the  teeth  of  evidence,2  and  he  is  possessed 
by  the  fatal  idea  that  falsehood  is  an  exercise  of  the 
intellect  like  another,  to  be  judged  of  by  its  object 
and  its  success.  These  three  defects  weaken  his 

1 Medicine  is  another  exception.  Asiatics  have  done  little 
even  in  surgery,  though  they  have  discovered  some  valuable 
drugs,  opium  for  example.  Their  failure,  says  the  European 
scientist,  is  the  result  of  their  incompetence.  Is  it  ? or  has  it 
sprung  from  their  indifference  alike  to  life  and  comfort  ? 

2 An  Indian  astronomer,  noted  for  his  calculation  of  eclipses, 
told  me  that  at  heart  he  believed  a dog  swallowed  the  moon,  and 
should  teach  his  children  so. 


INTRODUCTION 


ii 


mind  in  all  its  applications,  but  nevertheless  he  has 
great  powers.  He  has  organized  great  armies,  and 
though  fearfully  wasteful  of  life,  so  that  the  wounded 
may  be  accounted  dead,  he  has  so  furnished  those 
armies  that  they  can  wage  long  and  often  victorious 
campaigns.  The  cavalry  of  Asia,  for  instance,  is 
better  in  everything  except  the  actual  shock  of 
battle  than  the  same  arm  in  Europe. 

He  has  again  remarkable  power  of  recognizing 
genius,  whether  for  war,  for  instruction,  or  for  liter- 
ature. The  great  soldier  rises  rapidly  to  the  top, 
the  great  teacher  is  followed  with  blind  devotion, 
the  great  litterateur  is  regarded  with  a respect 
hardly  known  in  Europe.  Hyder  Ali  or  Runjeet 
Singh  cannot  among  us  mount  a throne.  No 
Europeans  are  capable  of  the  devotion  expressed  by 
Mahommed’s  “ companions,”  and  no  man’s  written 
“ words  of  wisdom  ” have  ever  had  the  moulding 
effect  of  those  of  Confucius,  who  did  not  even  pre- 
tend to  be  inspired.  Asiatics  have  in  fact  an  extra- 
ordinary faculty  both  of  detecting  and  following  a 
great  man,  sometimes  under  circumstances  when 
differences  of  origin,  creed,  and  even  colour  seem 
to  make  such  recognition  and  obedience  scarcely 
possible. 

Asiatics  have  bound  together  in  intellectual 
chains  of  custom  tribes  sometimes  unintelligible 
to  each  other,  who  nevertheless  cohere  for  ages, 
and  display  under  the  influence  of  their  chains 
a kind  of  identity  of  thought.  They  have 


12 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


invented  dozens  of  systems  of  land  tenure,  and 
the  systems  curiously  varied  suit  the  varied  con- 
ditions of  agriculture,  and  secure  for  those  who 
follow  them  many  of  the  great  advantages  of 
strict  association.  It  is  hardly  a proof  of  mental 
feebleness  to  have  so  obviated  or  removed  the  per- 
ennial discontent  of  the  agricultural  mind,  a dis- 
content which  we  all  imagine  inherent  in  those  who 
are  fighting  nature,  so  fearfully  strong  in  Asia,  that 
great  catastrophes  like  flood,  or  famine,  or  war, 
make  no  permanent  impression  at  all,  and  that  the 
moment  the  external  pressure  is  removed  the 
village  life  is  resumed  by  a population  which  when 
not  interfered  with  shows  many  signs  of  being  dis- 
tinctly happy.  The  grand  whip — hunger  renewed 
every  twenty-four  hours — by  which  it  has  pleased 
Providence  to  impart  energy  to  the  human  race,  is 
borne  in  Asia  contentedly,  and  produces  instead  of 
murmurs  a ceaseless  industry,  monotonous  indeed, 
but  of  which  no  one  ever  complains.  If  it  be  the 
end  of  systems  of  life  to  produce  contented  ac- 
quiescence the  Asiatic  systems  must  be  held  to  have 
succeeded. 

Nor  have  they  been  wanting  in  the  domain  of 
thought.  They  have  accomplished  little  in  science 
except  astronomy,  being — to  a degree  scarcely  in- 
telligible until  we  remember  that  it  marked  our- 
selves for  ages — wanting  in  enlightened  curiosity,  and 
they  have  neglected  history  with  a carelessness 
which,  in  view  of  their  reverence  for  the  past,  it  is 


INTRODUCTION 


*3 


most  difficult  to  explain.  They  do  not  as  a rule 
travel,  and  are  little  interested  in  travellers’  obser- 
vations, which  indeed  they  usually  disbelieve.  But 
they  have  devoted  such  mental  force  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Whence  and  Whither,  and  the 
relation  of  the  visible  to  the  invisible,  that  all  the 
creeds  accepted  by  civilized  and  semi-civilized  man- 
kind are  of  Asiatic  origin.  All  humanity,  except 
the  negroes  and  the  savage  races  of  America  and 
Polynesia,  regulate  their  conduct  and  look  for  a 
future  state  as  some  Asiatic  has  taught  them.  Nor 
is  the  teaching  always  feeble. 

Europe  having  accepted  with  hearty  confidence 
the  views  of  Peter  and  Paul,  both  Asiatics,  about 
the  meaning  of  what  their  Divine  Master  said,  re- 
gards all  other  systems  of  religious  thought  with 
contemptuous  distaste,  and  sums  them  up  in  its 
heart  as  “heathen  rubbish.”  Yet  Confucius  must 
have  been  a wise  man,  or  his  writings  could  not 
have  moulded  the  Chinese  mind  ; while  Mahom- 
medanism  has  a grip  such  as  no  other  creed,  not 
even  Christianity,  possesses  except  on  a few  in- 
dividuals. Brahminism  and  Buddhism  alike  rest 
upon  deep  and  far  reaching  philosophies. 

The  truth  is,  the  contempt  is  chiefly  born  of 
neglect  and  ignorance.  A Scotch  Calvinist,  who 
believes  very  nearly  the  same  thing,  is  annoyed  by 
belief  in  Kismet,  though  the  greatest  thinkers  of  all 
ages  have  failed  to  separate  the  foreknowledge  of  ab- 
solute power  from  absolute  destiny.  Englishmen 


14 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


cannot  get  rid  of  something  to  them  ludicrous  in  the 
notion  of  reincarnation,  or  as  they  usually  call  it 
transmigration,  and  entirely  fail  to  perceive  that  the 
reason  it  attracts  the  Asiatic  is  because  it  solves 
the  endless  puzzle  which  the  European  has  given  up 
in  despair,  viz.  the  apparently  unjust  government  of 
the  world  by  a just  God.  He  says,  “ Nay,  it  is  a 
just  government.  The  bad  man  prospers  because 
he  is  being  rewarded  here  on  earth  in  a temporary 
way  for  his  good  deeds  in  his  last  stage,  while  the 
good  man  who  is  unfortunate  is  being  punished  for 
the  sins  of  a former  existence.  Both,  when  their 
record  is  perfectly  clear,  will  be  reabsorbed  into  the 
eternally  happy  All.”  There  is  not  an  atom  of  evi- 
dence for  the  doctrine  which  to  be  complete  should 
fix  for  ever  the  numbers  of  mankind,  but  it  does,  if 
accepted,  explain  the  visible  phenomena,  and  there- 
fore is  the  refuge  of  millions  from  thoughts  which 
might  otherwise  lead  to  atheism.  In  the  same  way 
the  Mahommedan  moollah,  tormented  by  the  same 
problem,  explains  it  by  his  theory  that  God  acts 
because  He  wills,  and  not  because  He  is  bound  by 
His  own  nature.  “ These  to  hell  and  I care  not, 
these  to  heaven  and  I reck  not.”  It  seems  to  the 
European  an  abominable  explanation,  but  still,  if 
accepted,  it  does  explain,  and  the  conversion  of  a 
Mahommedan  is  the  missionary’s  despair. 

But,  finally,  the  morality  of  Asia  is  said  to  be  dis- 
tinctly inferior.  Let  us  examine  that  assertion  a little 
more  closely.  That  the  grand  Christian  rule,  "Thou 


INTRODUCTION 


i5 

shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,”  is  not  observed 
in  Asia  is  true,  terribly  and  fatally  true.  It  is  of 
course  open  to  any  one  to  say  that  it  is  not  observed 
in  Europe  either,  but  that  is  only  an  intellectual 
quip.  The  European  does  care  for  his  neighbour 
to  a certain  extent,  and  does  to  a much  greater 
extent  think  that  he  ought  to  care.  The  Asiatic 
does  not.  He  cares  for  his  family,  his  caste,  his 
clan,  and  sometimes  his  profession,  but  of  his  neigh- 
bour he  is  little  more  regardful  than  one  dog  is  of 
another.  He  is  not  affected  by  his  misfortunes,  and 
will  help  to  inflict  misfortunes  on  him  with  a serene 
callousness  which  in  Europe  is  for  the  most  part 
never  found.  The  Asiatic  who  could  not  endure  to 
be  an  executioner  out  of  sympathy  for  the  victims 
is  probably  non-existent.  That  want  of  the  power 
of  sympathy  is  the  root  of  all  evil  in  him,  the  ulti- 
mate cause  of  all  the  tyrannies,  the  massacres  and 
the  tortures  which  from  the  first  have  disgraced 
Asiatic  life,  and  which,  as  we  see  alike  in  Turkey 
and  in  China,  still  continue. 

But  we  are  bound  to  point  out  that  sympathy 
is  of  late  development  even  in  Europe,  that 
massacre  has  been  frightfully  common  in  Euro- 
pean history,  that  we  used,  to  persecute  for  the 
faith  as  Asiatics  do  now,  that  it  is  hardly  a cen- 
tury since  torture  was  disused,  and  not  seventy 
years  since  all  Europe  gave  up  all  who  were 
called  slaves  to  be  treated  as  their  owners  would. 
Even  now,  outside  Great  Britain,  any  educated 


i6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


man  may  be  shot  or  stabbed  by  any  one  who 
thinks  himself  insulted,  and  the  murderer,  even  if 
punishable  by  law,  is  unpunished  by  opinion.  It 
must  however  be  allowed  that  the  difference  between 
Asia  and  Europe  in  respect  of  the  controlling  power 
of  sympathy  is  enormous  and  entirely  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  the  Asiatic  continent.  But  for  the  rest, 
Asia  and  Europe  are  very  much  alike,  both  obeying 
in  theory  the  six  non-theological  commandments. 
The  fifth,  for  instance,  is  much  better  obeyed  in 
Asia  than  in  Europe,  reverence  for  parents  with  its 
correlative  regard  for  children  exercising  a binding 
force.  The  son  simply  cannot  and  does  not  insult 
his  father,  and  the  father  almost  invariably  regards 
the  son  as  David  regarded  Absalom.  The  sixth  is 
held  in  Asia  to  be  as  binding  as  in  Europe,  and  the 
murderer  is  as  readily  punished  with  death.  The 
seventh  is  just  as  much  reverenced  in  theory  as  in 
Europe.  Polygamy  is  no  doubt  not  considered 
adultery:  the  Mussulman  formally  sanctioning  it,  the 
Hindoo  allowing  it  if  children  are  not  forthcoming, 
or  as  a special  privilege  to  certain  castes,  and  the 
Chinese  tolerating  it  as  an  indulgence  to  the  rich 
and  powerful.  But  nevertheless  chastity  is  the  ideal, 
and  is  enforced  everywhere  by  severe  laws,  and  is 
probably  as  well  observed  as  by  the  nations  of 
Southern  Europe.1  The  eighth  is  enforced  with  a 

1 The  reason  why  this  is  not  believed  by  Englishmen  is  that 
Asiatics,  while  quite  aware  of  the  value  of  chastity,  have  never 
conceived  fully  the  notion  of  purity.  They  think  of  that  as  a 


INTRODUCTION 


*7 

terrible  rigour  which  in  Europe  has  died  away.  The 
ninth  is  regarded  as  just,  though  disobeyed  univer- 
sally in  practice;  and  for  the  tenth  there  is  less 
necessity  perhaps  than  in  any  part  of  the  world,  the 
fixed  idea  that  Providence  arranges  society  tending 
greatly  to  extinguish  envy.  Men  desire  their  neigh- 
bour’s property  as  elsewhere,  but  the  haunting  pain 
because  others  have  and  I have  not  is  not  in  Asia 
a moving  force. 

The  continent  Europe  desires  to  conquer  is  not 
therefore  a continent  occupied  by  savages,  but  one 
full  of  great  and  small  nations  highly  though  imper- 
fectly civilized,  proficient  in  all  arts  except  sculpture 
and  painting,  with  great  cities,  great  laws,  great 
literatures  and  a great  amount  of  social  happiness, 
perhaps  greater  than  exists  in  Europe.  I doubt  if 
the  attempt  will  succeed,  and  certainly  it  will  not 
succeed  without  the  infliction  of  a vast  amount  of 
human  misery,  for  which  government  by  Europe 
may  or  may  not  be  a compensation.  It  certainly  will 
not  be  unless  the  races  draw  nearer,  the  first  conse- 
quence of  which  to  both  continents  will  be  a decline 


fad.  They  have  no  idea  of  reticence  in  words  and  very  little  of 
pictorial  decency.  The  Hindoos  are  probably  the  most  decorous 
of  all  the  peoples  of  Asia,  and  when  in  Lord  Dalhousie’s  time  a 
Bill  was  drawn  for  the  prevention  of  overt  obscenity,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  insert  a clause  that  the  Act  should  not  apply  to  any 
temple  or  religious  emblem.  I fancy  the  real  origin  of  the  differ- 
ence is  the  survival  throughout  Asia  ot  an  extremely  old  Nature 
worship,  the  mystical  side  of  which  will  be  found  wonderfully 
well  expressed  in  Sir  Alfred  Lyall’s  poem  on  Siva. 


C 


i8 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


from  their  present  tone.  The  Italianized  English- 
man is  bad  enough,  but  the  Asiaticized  European 
is  intolerable,  and  the  Europeanized  Asiatic  is — a 
Pasha. 


The  Influence  of  Europe  on  Asia 

IT  is  the  general  opinion  of  the  European 
“man  in  the  street”  that  Europe  will  presently 
divide  Asia  as  well  as  Africa,  and  will  thencefor- 
ward tax,  govern,  and,  above  all,  “ influence  ” the 
peoples  of  that  immense  continent,  which  contains 
more  than  half  the  population  of  the  world.  After 
fifty  years’  study  of  the  subject,  I do  not  believe 
that,  with  the  possible  exception  of  a single  move- 
ment, Europe  has  ever  permanently  influenced  Asia, 
and  I cannot  help  doubting  whether  in  the  future  it 
ever  will.  The  possible  exception  is  this.  Man 
really  knows  nothing  of  his  earliest  history,  and 
unless  assisted  by  beings  older  than  himself,  who 
must  exist,  though  unrecognizable  by  him,  he  never 
will  know  anything  of  it.  As  all  the  families  of 
mankind  are  capable  of  inter-breeding,  and  do 
actually  interbreed,  there  is,  from  the  analogy  of 
the  animal  world,  a violent  probability  that  they 
all  spring  from  one  original  stock,  but  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  that  stock  developed 
strong  contrasts  of  colour,  and,  possibly  from  a 
repulsion  produced  by  those  contrasts,  wandered 

19 


20 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


to  all  parts  of  the  earth,  often,  it  seems  clear,  cross- 
ing by  unknown  means  broad  stretches  of  sea,  we 
know  absolutely  nothing  whatever.  No  one,  for 
instance,  out  of  hundreds  of  competent  inquirers, 
has  even  a fixed  hypothesis  as  to  the  peopling  of 
America  by  a race  which  either  carried  there  or 
developed  there  a shade  of  colour  differing  palpably, 
however  slightly,  from  the  colour  of  any  other  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  globe.  It  is  conceivable,  there- 
fore, that  the  energetic  white  family,  audax  Iapeti 
genus , as  Horace  says,  may  have  developed  itself 
originally  in  Europe,  and,  as  it  is  probable  that  it 
wandered  first  of  all  into  China,  there  imparting  to 
a lower  and  darker  aboriginal  race  some  of  its 
energy  and  power  of  accumulating  knowledge,  and 
certain  that  it  so  wandered  into  India,  again  raising 
the  character  of  most  of  the  races  previously  dwell- 
ing there,  it  is  conceivable  that  Europe  did  once 
permanently  influence  Asia.  For  myself  I believe 
the  older  theory  that  the  white  family  came  from 
Asia ; but,  even  accepting  the  rival  opinion,  the 
influence  was  soon  lost,  and  the  population  which 
emerged  possessed  all  the  distinctive  characteristics 
of  the  Asiatic.  The  white  invaders  were  lost  among 
the  dark  tribes  as  completely  as  the  Normans  were 
lost  among  the  Irish.  The  permanent  influence 
remained  with  Asia,  not  with  Europe.  At  all 
events,  from  the  beginning  of  authentic  history, 
Europe  has  received  from  Asia  far  more  than  she 
has  given.  The  people  of  the  “ setting  sun  ” — that 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  21 


seems  the  most  probable  explanation  of  the  word 
“ Europe  ” — derived  from  Asia  their  letters,  their 
arithmetic,  and  their  knowledge  of  the  way  to  guide 
boats  out  of  sight  cf  land,  a knowledge  which,  as 
we  shall  shortly  see,  they  never  used  as  Asiatics 
must  have  used  it.  The  expeditions  in  which 
early  Asiatics  must  have  reached  the  islands  of 
the  South  Pacific  and  America,  and  by  which  early 
Hindoos  conquered  and  civilized  Java  and  Bali,  and 
early  Malays  conquered  and  thenceforth  governed 
Madagascar,  and  early  Arabs  reached  China,  would 
have  seemed  to  both  Greek  and  Roman  absurd 
audacities.  Europe,  till  the  Greek  power  arose, 
came  in  contact  with  Asia  only  because  the  Semites 
were  great  traders,  skilful  organizers  of  Sepoy 
armies,  adventurous  navigators,  and,  as  compared 
with  Europeans,  civilized  men.  When  the  Greek 
power  arose,  it  seemed  for  a moment  as  if  the 
process  would  be  changed,  and  had  Alexander  not 
been  stopped  by  a mutiny,  the  separateness  of  Asia 
might  have  ended  ; for  that  marvellous  man,  whose 
imagination  was  like  insight,  if  he  had  become 
master  of  India,  would  have  pushed  eastward, 
and  need  not  have  stopped  until  he  reached  the 
North  Pacific.  With  him,  however,  the  possibility 
ended;  and  though  the  generals  who  derived  renown 
from  him  founded  dynasty  after  dynasty  within 
Asiatic  limits,  the  Greeks  left  in  the  end  scarcely 
an  impression  of  themselves.  Except  on  a thin 
fringe  of  the  great  continent  no  vestige  of  them 


22 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


remains.  Their  civilization  took  no  final  root,  for 
though  it  lasted  long  it  was  not  accepted,  any  more 
than  their  successive  creeds  and  philosophies,  by 
any  Asiatic  people.  There  is  no  people  in  the 
entire  continent  of  whom  you  can  say  that  they 
were  fairly  Grecized,  even  the  Jews,  who  caught 
their  ideas  best,  finally  rejecting  them.  No  one 
is  so  unlike  a true  Greek  in  mind  as  a true 
Asiatic. 

Then  came  the  Roman,  with  advantages  which 
no  predecessor  had  ever  possessed.  Of  him  one 
would  have  thought  that  it  might  be  truly  said, 
“ With  bread  and  iron  one  can  get  to  China.”  He 
knew  how  to  conquer  and  to  keep  on  conquering  ; 
he  intended,  consciously  intended,  the  conquest  of 
the  world,  and  he  was  to  all  appearance,  as  a soldier, 
the  superior  of  any  Asiatic.  Yet  he  did  not  pene- 
trate even  as  far  as  Alexander  did.  A small  Asiatic 
tribe  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Mediterranean 
raised  the  most  difficult  rebellion  Rome  ever  had  to 
subdue ; Persia  beat  back  Rome  as  she  had  never 
beaten  Alexander;  and  when  in  125-30  Hadrian 
gave  up  the  game,  and  pledged  Rome  to  a defen- 
sive policy,  she  positively  forgot  Middle  and  Farther 
Asia  as  if  they  had  never  existed.  There  remained 
some  small  trade  in  luxuries,  and  the  Myrrhine 
vases  may  have  been  of  porcelain ; but  Rome  not 
only  never  interfered  beyond  the  fringe  of  Asia 
which  touches  the  Mediterranean,  but  she  knew 
nothing  about  it.  Not  only  did  her  fleets  never 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  23 


reach  Southern  and  Eastern  Asia,  but  she  never 
sent  explorers  there.  There  is  no  Roman  Hero- 
dotus. There  was  a lack  of  imagination  in  the 
Roman,  great  as  he  was,  which  is  apparent,  I think, 
in  all  his  literature,  and  which  acted  as  a limitation 
on  his  efforts.  He  became  as  content  as  a Chinese. 
Fancying  he  ruled  the  world,  in  which  he  ruled  the 
shores  of  one  great  lake,  he  made  no  effort  to  con- 
quer further,  or  to  explore,  or  to  understand  any- 
thing beyond.  He  had  ships,  wealth,  brave  men 
by  the  thousand,  but  he  cared  to  utilize  none  of  them 
any  more  than  if  he  had  been  a Chinaman.  We 
are  accustomed  to  say  and  to  think  that  he  could 
not  help  himself ; but  what  did  he  lack  which  the 
Hindoo  possessed  when  he  conquered  Java,  or  the 
Malay  when  he  conquered  Madagascar,  or  the  Ice- 
lander when  he  reached  America  and  lost  a “ ship  ” 
there,  or  the  Maori  when  from  some  far  away  island 
he  took  possession  of  New  Zealand — a wonderful 
adventure,  which,  in  a people  who  could  write, 
would  have  produced  a crop  of  literature  ? Having 
enough,  the  Roman  was  not,  we  are  told,  driven  to 
any  necessity  for  great  adventures.  That  is  true, 
but  he  was  also  a very  limited  person,  and  though 
he  succeeded  in  Southern  Europe  he  failed  in  Asia  as 
completely  as  in  Britain,  where,  after  reigning  for  four 
hundred  years,  he  stamped  himself  as  little  as  we 
should  be  found  to  have  stamped  ourselves  if  we 
quitted  India  to-moriow.  He  made  of  the  bold 
barbarians  of  Gaul,  and  of  the  more  stubborn  bar- 


*4 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


barians  of  Iberia,  Romanized  peoples,  but  of  Asia- 
tics he  Romanized  not  one  tribe.  Something  in 
them  rejected  him  utterly,  and  survived  him  ; and 
at  this  moment,  among  the  eight  hundred  millions 
of  Asia,  there  are  not  twenty  among  whom  can  be 
traced  by  the  most  imaginative  any  lingering  influ- 
ence of  Rome. 

The  “ barbarians,”  as  we  call  them,  that  is,  the 
great  white  tribes,  who,  pressed,  it  seems  probable, 
by  an  increase  in  their  numbers  inconsistent  with 
their  way  of  life  and  their  imperfect  agriculture, 
poured  in  successive  swarms  on  the  Roman  Empire, 
and  at  last  destroyed  it,  never  appear  to  have  con- 
templated conquests  in  Asia.  They  passed  the 
Mediterranean  under  a leader  with  a genius  for 
destruction,  and  stamped  out  Rome  in  Africa,  but 
they  were  baffled  over  and  over  again  by  the  Lower 
Empire  which  we  so  much  despise,  because,  after  a 
history  of  heroism,  it  did  not  succeed,  and  in  Asia 
they  made  no  serious  attempt.  Centuries  after- 
wards, their  descendants,  under  a religious  impulse, 
did  ; but  Asia  had  then  become  too  strong  for  them, 
and  the  whole  of  the  series  of  mighty  efforts,  which 
we  call  the  Crusades,  were,  so  far  as  influence  on 
Asia  was  concerned,  uselessly  thrown  away.  Inter- 
mediately, Asia  had  performed  the  feat  which  she 
alone  of  the  continents  performs  periodically.  She 
had  produced  a new  creed  ; and  as — unlike  Budd- 
hism, Judaism,  Confucianism,  and  Christianity — the 
tenets  of  Mahommedanism  were  calculated  to  make 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  25 


soldiers,  she  spewed  Europe  completely  out  of  her 
mouth.  From  700  to  1757,  more  than  a thousand 
years,  the  ways  of  Asia  remained  exclusively  Asiatic, 
only  a minute  corner  being  even  raided  by  the  Cru- 
saders. Not  a province,  not  a tribe,  I had  almost 
said  not  an  individual,  had  become  permanently 
Europeanized.  So  far  as  one  can  see,  not  a Euro- 
pean idea,  not  a European  habit,  not  a distinctively 
European  branch  of  knowledge,  ever  penetrated 
into  Asia.  The  Asiatics  did  not  even  learn  our 
astronomy,  which  would  have  interested  them,  or 
our  method  of  fighting,  for  the  Janissaries  were 
European  followers  of  Mahommed.  During  that 
long  space  of  time  it  three  times  seemed  as  if  Europe 
might  be  subjugated  by  Asiatics,  once  by  the  Arabs, 
once  by  the  Turks,  and  once  by  the  Tartars;  but 
some  impulse — probably  the  exhaustion  of  energy, 
which  seems  always  to  befall  brown  men — stopped 
the  conquerors,  who  would,  however,  have  mocked 
had  they  been  told  that  the  Asiatic  was  essentially 
and  by  incurable  law  feebler  than  the  European. 

Then  came  the  present  movement  against  Asia, 
which  in  one  way  has  been  more  successful  than 
any  which  have  preceded  it.  The  north  of  the  con- 
tinent, with  its  vast  area  and  thin  population,  has 
fallen  under  the  military  control  of  the  Slav  people, 
the  great  Indian  Peninsula  has  succumbed  to  Anglo- 
Saxon  energy,  and  neither  Greece  nor  Rome  ever 
ruled  a third  of  the  number  of  Asiatics  who  now 
pay  taxes  to  Great  Britain  and  obey  such  laws  as 


26 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


she  chooses  to  impose.  To  the  external  world  one 
half  of  Asia  appears  to  have  become  European.  In 
reality,  however,  neither  Russia  nor  Great  Britain 
has  as  yet  exercised  any  “ influence  ” upon  the  mil- 
lions she  has  conquered.  In  the  north  the  tribes 
are  only  held  down  by  Russia,  would  rebel  in  a 
moment  if  they  dared,  and  show  no  sign  of  accepting 
either  her  civilization,  her  ideas,  or  her  creed.  In 
the  south  Great  Britain  has  enforced  a peace  which 
has  produced  manifold  blessings,  but  she  has  neither 
won  nor  converted  any  large  section  of  her  subject 
populations.  There  is  no  province,  no  tribe,  no 
native  organization  in  India  upon  which,  in  the 
event  of  disaster,  she  could  rely  for  aid.  After 
nearly  a century  of  clement  government  there  are 
not  ten  thousand  natives  in  India  who,  unpaid  and 
uncoerced,  would  die  in  defence  of  British  sove- 
reignty. The  moment  it  was  known  in  1857  that, 
owing  to  the  shrinkage  of  the  white  garrison,  the 
enterprise  was  possible,  the  most  favoured  class  in 
the  Peninsula,  the  Sepoys,  sprang  at  their  rulers’ 
throats,  and  massacred  all  they  could  reach  without 
either  mercy  or  regret.  The  war  lasted  three  years, 
and  in  spite  of  the  splendid  energy  and  courage  of 
the  whites,  had  the  dark  peoples  produced  one 
soldier  of  genius,  a Jenghiz  Khan,  or  even  a Hyder 
Ali,  it  could  scarcely  have  terminated  to  European 
advantage.  As  it  was,  the  British  remain  masters  ; 
but  beneath  the  small  film  of  white  men  who  make 
up  the  “ Indian  Empire  ” boils  or  sleeps  away  a sea 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  27 


of  dark  men,  incurably  hostile,  who  await  with 
patience  the  day  when  the  ice  shall  break  and  the 
ocean  regain  its  power  of  restless  movement  under 
its  own  laws.  As  yet  there  is  no  sign  that  the 
British  are  accomplishing  more  than  the  Romans 
accomplished  in  Britain,  that  they  will  spread  any 
permanently  successful  ideas,  or  that  they  will  found 
anything  whatever.  It  is  still  true  that  if  they 
departed  or  were  driven  out  they  would  leave  behind 
them,  as  the  Romans  did  in  Britain,  splendid  roads, 
many  useless  buildings,  an  increased  weakness  in 
the  subject  people,  and  a memory  which  in  a cen- 
tury of  new  events  would  be  extinct. 

I say  nothing  of  China,  for  as  yet  all  that  Europe 
has  effected  in  China  is  to  create  an  impression  that 
the  white  peoples  are  intolerably  fierce  and  cruel, 
that  they  understand  nothing  but  making  money, 
and  that  from  them  there  is  nothing  intellectual  or 
moral  to  be  gained.  Russia  has  acquired  a “ route  ” 
on  which  to  build  a railway  to  the  Pacific.  France 
holds  a Chinese  dependency  where  she  expects  re- 
bellion, and  Europe  holds  Pekin  in  temporary  mili- 
tary occupation ; but  it  is  not  even  pretended  that 
China  has  been  conquered.  What  she  has  lost  has 
been  more  than  made  up  to  Asia  as  a whole  by  the 
rise  of  Japan,  where  a branch  of  the  yellow  people, 
without  in  the  least  ceasing  to  be  Asiatic,  has 
developed  an  unexpected  energy  which,  if  it  is 
ever  directed  to  obtain  leadership  among  the  yellow 
peoples  may  prove  a final  obstacle  to  the  ascendency 


28 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  the  whites.  Europe,  outside  Russia  at  least, 
greatly  admires  that  change,  and  forgets  entirely 
that  in  its  contest  with  Asia,  which  has  lasted  two 
thousand  years,  a new  and  heavy  weight  has  been 
thrown  within  our  own  lifetimes  on  the  defensive 
side.  We  are  told  every  day  how  Europe  has  in- 
fluenced Japan,  and  forget  that  the  change  in  those 
islands  was  entirely  self- generated,  that  Europeans 
did  not  teach  Japan,  but  that  Japan  of  herself  chose 
to  learn  from  Europe  methods  of  organization,  civil 
and  military,  which  have  so  far  proved  successful. 
She  imported  European  mechanical  science  as  the 
Turks  years  before  imported  European  artillery. 
That  is  not  exactly  “ influence,”  unless,  indeed, 
England  is  “ influenced  ” by  purchasing  tea  of 
China.  Where  is  the  European  apostle  or  philo- 
sopher or  statesman  or  agitator  who  has  re-made 
Japan  ? 

So  much  for  the  past,  now  for  the  future.  Europe 
assumes  that  it  will  be  very  different ; but  let  us 
look  at  the  reasons  for  the  assumption.  I will  speak 
of  comparative  force  by  and  by  ; but  let  us  at  first 
consider  whether  there  is  any  evidence  that  the 
separateness  of  the  Asiatic  mind  is  in  any  way 
diminishing.  I do  not  think  that  any  one,  whether 
he  is  thoughtful  statesman  like  Sir  Alfred  Lyall,  or 
poet  like  Rudyard  Kipling,  with  insight  into  the 
East,  or  average  administrator,  'English  or  Russian, 
will  deny  for  a moment  that  the  separateness  exists, 
that  East  and  West,  brown  man  and  white  man,  are 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  29 


at  present  separated  by  a gulf  of  thoughts,  aspira- 
tions and  conclusions , and  where  is  the  evidence  that 
the  gulf  is  closing  up  ? What  the  secret  of  that 
separateness  is  has  perplexed  the  thoughtful  for 
ages,  and  will  perplex  them  for  ages  more — indeed 
it  can  never  be  clear  until  we  know  something 
definite  of  the  primal  history  of  man — but  it  must 
ultimately  have  some  relation  to  the  grand  fact  that 
every  creed  accepted  by  the  great  races  of  mankind, 
every  creed  which  has  really  helped  to  mould  thought, 
has  had  its  origin  in  Asia.  The  white  man  invented 
the  steam  engine,  but  no  religion  which  has  endured. 
The  vague  mythology  once  current  in  Southern 
Europe  produced  no  dominant  ideas  — it  was  a 
worship  of  beauty  in  Greece  and  of  Rome  in  Rome 
— and  no  code  of  laws,  either  ethical  or  social,  and  it 
died  away  utterly,  there  being  on  earth  now  not  one 
man  who  believes  in  Jupiter.  The  truth  is  the 
European  is  essentially  secular,  that  is,  intent  on 
securing  objects  he  can  see  ; and  the  Asiatic  essen- 
tially religious,  that  is,  intent  on  obedience  to  powers 
which  he  cannot  see  but  can  imagine.  We  call  these 
thoughts  “superstitions,”  and  no  doubt  many  of 
them  are  silly  as  well  as  baseless,  but  still  they  are 
attempts  to  think  about  the  unseen  which  the  Euro- 
pean usually  avoids.  The  European,  therefore, 
judges  a creed  by  its  results,  declaring  that  if  these 
are  foolish  or  evil  or  inconvenient  the  creed  is  false. 
The  Asiatic  does  not  consider  results  at  all,  but  only 
the  accuracy  or  beauty  of  the  thoughts  generated 


3° 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


in  his  own  mind.  Macaulay’s  great  argument  that 
Roman  Catholicism  must  be  less  true  than  Protes- 
tantism because  Roman  Catholic  countries  are  less 
prosperous  appears  to  the  Asiatic  to  be  a mere 
absurdity.  “ Is  the  end  of  religion,”  he  asks,  “ to 
produce  comfort  here  ? The  Divine  Law  is  to  be 
obeyed  even  if  it  compels  me  to  go  without  com- 
fort through  all  my  life.”  He  does  not  always  or 
often  obey  it,  the  flesh  being  weak,  but  that  is  what 
he  thinks.  Even  the  Chinaman,  the  most  secular 
of  all  Asiatics,  obeys  his  Emperor  because  he  repre- 
sents the  Father,  and  rises  into  angry  rebellion  if  he 
thinks  the  spirits  of  the  air  or  of  the  earth  have  been 
affronted.  If  the  Asiatic  believed  the  rule  of  absti- 
nence from  work  on  Sunday  to  be  Divine,  he  would 
let  his  enemy  kill  him  quietly,  as  the  Jew,  who  was 
an  Asiatic,  did  in  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  while  the 
European  would  go  on  fighting,  declaring  that  God 
could  not  intend  him  to  be  killed.  If  Asiatics 
held,  like  Roman  Catholics,  that  Heaven  had  com- 
mitted the  definition  of  faith  and  morals  to  a caste, 
they  would  obey  that  caste  on  every  question  of 
faith  and  morals,  as  the  Hindoo  for  the  same  reason 
obeys  a Brahmin  decision,  even  if  it  makes  of  him 
an  outcast.  The  European,  even  when  Catholic, 
frets  under  the  priestly  domination,  and  passes  laws 
like  the  law  of  divorce,  which  are  direct  denials  of 
the  claim  of  the  caste  to  Divine  authority.  That 
habitual  and  willing  submission  to  the  supernatural, 
even  when  the  decrees  of  the  supernatural  are  not 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  31 


utilitarian,  which  has  always  been  the  keynote  of  the 
Asiatic  mind,  seems  to  me  one  cause  of  the  separate- 
ness of  Asia,  a separateness  so  complete  that  the 
single  Asiatic  tribe  which  does  not  live  in  Asia  has 
borne  for  seventeen  centuries,  under  horrible  per- 
secution, often  involving  death  by  torture,  the 
burden  of  an  inconvenient  and  hampering  law, 
because  its  members  hold  it  to  be  divine. 

There  is  also  in  the  Asiatic  mind  a special 
political  and  a special  social  idea.  It  is  not  by 
accident  that  the  European  desires  self-government, 
and  the  Asiatic  to  be  governed  by  an  absolute  will. 
The  European  holds  government  to  be  an  earthly 
business  which  he  may  manage  as  well  as  another, 
if  only  he  is  competent,  and  accordingly  he  either 
governs  himself  directly,  or  he  frames  a series  of 
laws  which  nobody,  not  even  the  King,  is  at  liberty 
to  break  through.  The  German  Emperor  is  pretty 
absolute,  but  he  could  no  more  will  a man’s  death 
than  the  Lord  Mayor  could.  Every  indepen- 
dent Asiatic  sovereign  can  so  will,  and  be  obeyed. 
The  Asiatic,  in  fact,  holds  that  power  is  Divine,  and 
that  a good  king  ought  to  be  enabled  to  “ crush  the 
bad  and  nourish  the  good,”  to  use  the  Brahmin 
formula,  without  check  or  hindrance.  He  is  then 
himself  relieved,  like  a good  Catholic,  from  any 
personal  responsibility,  even  the  trouble  of  thinking. 
As  a consequence,  throughout  history  the  Asiatic, 
though  frequently  exempted  from  military  pressure, 
as  for  example  the  Chinese  have  been  for  ages, 


32 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


invariably  sets  up  a despotism,  and  when,  as  rarely 
happens,  the  despot  strikes  him  down,  bows  to  the 
decree  as  we  bow  to  the  sentence  of  a surgeon  who 
prescribes  a painful  operation.  We  do  not  quarrel 
with  Providence  because  we  are  ill  or  liable  to 
immediate  death,  nor  does  the  Asiatic  under 
oppression  or  unjust  sentence  quarrel  with  God’s 
representative  on  earth.  And  lastly,  the  Asiatic, 
believing,  as  he  invariably  does,  that  his  social 
system  is  Divine,  is  content  with  it,  clings  to  it, 
and  resents  interference  with  it  with  a passion  that 
leads  to  bloodshed  wherever  bloodshed  is  possible. 
(It  is  because  the  English  interfere  so  little  with  the 
social  life  of  their  dark  subjects  that  their  reign  over 
dark  peoples  often  lasts  so  long.)  He  is  aware, 
keenly  aware,  that  white  government,  sooner  or 
later,  involves  revolution  in  his  social  system,  and 
he  hates  it  with  an  undying  hatred  such  as  an  Irish 
peasant  feels  for  the  “ agent  ” who  may  some  day 
evict  him,  and  who  meanwhile  levies  rent.  Indeed, 
I often  think  that  the  feeling  of  the  Keltic  Irishman 
towards  the  Englishman,  which  appears  to  be 
unchangeable,  is  the  nearest  analogue  to  that  of  the 
Asiatic  for  the  European.  He  regards  him,  if  an 
oppressor,  as  a formidable  brute  to  be  resisted  with 
any  instrument  at  hand ; if  a just  man,  as  a dis- 
agreeable, slow-witted,  uncomfortable  outsider,  who 
has  no  right  to  interfere  with  him,  and  who  ought  to 
be  driven  to  a distance  as  speedily  and  finally  as 
possible.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  33 


European  shares  this  feeling  of  separateness  com- 
pletely. Whatever  the  cause,  whether,  as  he  him- 
self thinks,  antagonism  of  colour,  or,  as  I think, 
difference  in  permanent  ideals,  the  effect  is  the 
same ; the  European  cannot  merge  himself  in  the 
Asiatic  without  a sense  of  degradation,  which  is 
almost  invariably  followed  by  its  reality.  He  never 
willingly  accepts  any  position  but  one,  that  of 
unquestioned  ruler.  It  is  not  a question  of  creed, 
for  the  Roman  had  the  feeling  as  strongly  as  the 
Englishman,  and  the  Greek  thought  of  “ Medizing  ” 
as  of  the  sum  of  all  possible  offences  against  his 
dignity  and  his  nature.  It  is  not  a question  of 
laws,  for  legal  equality  under  laws  which  he  him- 
self has  made  intensifies  rather  than  diminishes 
English  abhorrence  of  the  process.  When  in  1857 
the  English  in  India,  by  all  the  rules  of  politics  and 
warfare,  were  hopelessly  lost,  they  exhibited  before 
all  the  world  the  true  European  feeling.  They 
asked  no  quarter,  they  suggested  no  compromise, 
they  discussed  no  terms  among  themselves,  they 
proposed  no  treaty,  but  fought  on,  clear  only  as  to 
one  point,  that  they  would  either  continue  to  rule  or 
they  would  go  under  and  be  forgotten.  Asiatics,  as 
I believe,  perceive  this  European  decision  very 
clearly,  and  it  is  the  ultimate  cause  of  the  massacres 
to  which,  when  they  rise  in  insurrection,  they  invari- 
ably resort.  They  know  that  their  only  chance  of 
victory  is  to  kill  the  white  people  out.  The 
obnoxious  race  will  never  make  terms,  never  merge 

D 


34 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


in  the  population,  never  be  anything  but  rulers,  and 
therefore  if  their  rule  is  to  terminate  they  must  be 
exterminated. 

But  I shall  be  told  that  the  spread  of  Christianity, 
which  is  inevitable,  will  extinguish,  probably  very 
speedily,  the  separateness  of  Asia,  and  with  it  all  its 
consequences.  Will  it  ? Let  us  look  at  that  belief 
a little  closely  and  without  preconceived  ideas.  I 
do  not  find  in  history  that  a common  Christianity  in 
any  degree  removes  hatreds  of  race  or  nationality, 
or  prevents  continuous  outbreaks  of  bitter  hostility  ; 
but  we  may  let  that  pass.  What  is  the  real  ground 
for  believing  that  Asia  will  accept  Christianity  ? 
Certainly  there  is  no  historic  ground.  No  Asiatic 
nation  of  any  importance  can  be  said  to  have  accepted 
it  in  the  last  seventeen  hundred  years.  The  Asiatic 
race  which  knows  the  creed  best,  and  has  had  the 
strongest  reasons  for  accepting  it,  reasons  which 
prevailed  with  the  Germans  and  the  Slavs  when 
pagan,  still  rejects  it  with  a certain  silent  but  very 
perceptible  scorn.  What  has  changed  in  Asia  that 
the  future  should  be  so  unlike  the  past  ? There 
are  more  teachers,  no  doubt,  but  there  are  not 
one-tenth  or  one-hundredth  so  many  as  have  en- 
deavoured through  the  ages  in  vain  to  convert  the 
Jews.  It  is  said  that  Christ  gave  an  order  to  His 
disciples  to  teach  all  nations ; that  is  true,  and  I for 
one  believe  the  order  to  be  binding,  and  that  the 
Christian  Church  which  sends  out  no  missionaries  is 
a dead  Church  ; but  where  in  the  record  has  Christ 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  35 


promised  to  those  missionaries  universal  success  ? 
Is  it  not  at  least  possible  that  the  missionaries  carry 
in  their  hands  the  offer  of  eternal  life,  which  a few 
accept,  while  the  rest  “ perish  everlastingly,”  that  is, 
die  like  the  flowers  or  the  dumb  creatures  of  God  ? 
This  much,  at  least,  is  certain,  that  for  eighteen 
hundred  years  it  has  been  no  part  of  the  policy 
of  Heaven — I write  with  reverence  though  I use 
non-religious  terminology — to  convert  Asiatics  en 
masse , and  there  is  no  proof  that  this  absence  of 
Divine  assistance  to  the  teachers  may  not  continue 
for  an  equal  period  in  the  future.  The  truth  is  that 
the  Asiatics,  like  the  Jews,  dislike  Christianity,  see 
in  it  an  ideal  they  do  not  love,  a promise  they  do 
not  desire,  and  a pulverizing  force  which  must 
shatter  their  civilizations.  Eternal  consciousness ! 
That  to  the  majority  of  Asiatics  is  not  a promise 
but  a threat.  The  wish  to  be  rid  of  consciousness, 
either  by  annihilation  or  by  absorption  in  the 
Divine,  is  the  strongest  impulse  they  can  feel. 
Though  Asiatic  in  origin,  Christianity  is  the  least 
Asiatic  of  the  creeds.  Its  acceptance  would  revo- 
lutionize the  position  of  woman,  which  is  the  same 
throughout  Asia,  would  profoundly  modify  all  social 
life,  and  would  place  by  the  side  of  the  spiritual 
dogma  “ thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,”  which 
every  Asiatic  accepts  in  theory,  the  far-reaching 
ethica’  dogma,  “ and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,” 
which  he  regards  as  an  intolerable  burden.  I doubt, 
too  whether  the  beauty  of  the  character  of  Christ 


3& 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


appeals  to  the  brown  races  as  it  does  to  the  white, 
whether  they  feel  His  self-suppression  for  others,  as 
Clovis  and  his  warriors  felt  it,  as  something  alto- 
gether more  beautiful  and  ideal  than  their  own 
range  of  conception.  However  that  may  be,  it  is 
clear  that  while  the  Asiatic  can  be  wooed  to  a 
change  of  creed,  as  witness  the  success  of  both 
Buddhism  and  Mahommedanism,  whose  teachings 
are  radically  opposed  to  each  other,  they  have  not 
been  and  are  not  equally  moved  to  embrace  Chris- 
tianity. If  they  ever  take  to  it,  it  will  be  from  some 
internal  and  self-generated  movement  of  thought, 
and  not  from  any  influence  of  Europe. 

And  lastly,  as  to  the  question  of  force.  Europe 
assumes  with  a certain  levity  that  if  it  were  only 
united  it  could  conquer  Asia,  and  that  for  a time 
is  possibly  true.  If  such  an  event  happened  it 
would  not  affect  my  argument,  for  the  huge  mass  of 
Asiatics  would  remain  uninfluenced,  as  the  masses 
of  India  have  done,  would  “ let  the  legions  thunder 
past,”  and  wait  patiently  for  the  hour  when  it  would 
be  possible  to  bid  them  depart  again  ; but  even  as 
to  the  possibility  there  is  some  ground  for  doubt. 
Can  Europe  unite  in  the  work,  or  would  Russia  and 
the  West  quarrel  over  it,  and  so  render  it  imprac- 
ticable ? That  Europe  is  infinitely  stronger  for 
defence  than  Asia  may  be  instantly  acknowledged. 
As  Sir  Robert  Giffen  has  pointed  out,  the  white 
men  have  multiplied  enormously,  and  European 
civilization  has  clothed  itself  in  the  enchanted  armour 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  37 


of  science.  All  Asia,  if  furious  with  rage,  could  not 
cross  the  Dardanelles  if  Europe  in  earnest  forbade 
the  crossing.  But  for  offensive  transmarine  war 
Europe  is  not  so  strong,  is  not  three  hundred 
millions,  but  rather  at  the  utmost  one  million,  which 
million  she  could  not  waste  on  peril  of  conscription 
breaking  down,  and  which  she  could  not  transport, 
provide  with  horses,  supply  with  food  and  munitions, 
and  keep  in  movement  over  vast  semi-tropical  areas 
without  an  expenditure  and  a consequent  taxation 
that  her  people  would  soon  bitterly  resent.  The 
work  before  this  million  would  be  enormous.  They 
would  have  to  conquer  five  hundred  millions  of  men, 
of  whom  at  least  thirty  millions,  the  Ottomans  and 
the  tribesmen  of  the  Northern  desert  and  the  Arabs, 
are  born  soldiers,  and  four  hundred  millions  are 
semi-civilized  Mongols,  who  once  warned  could 
make  and  use  rifles  and  light  artillery  as  well  as  the 
Europeans,  and  who  would  be  guided  and  drilled 
by  a section  of  their  own  people  which  has  assimi- 
lated much  of  European  science.  Is  there  an  army 
in  Europe  which  would  regard  the  invasion  of  Japan 
with  a light  heart,  and  what  is  there  in  the  military 
system  of  Japan  which  the  Ottomans,  the  Arabs, 
the  Tartars  and  the  Chinese,  if  pushed  to  extremity, 
or  if  determined  on  insurrection,  could  not  repro- 
duce ? Grant  victory  to  Europe  at  first,  and  think 
of  the  lingering  war,  of  the  endless  insurrections,  of 
the  bitter  quarrels  among  the  Powers,  of  the  huge 
garrisons  which  must  be  kept  up,  and  of  the  steady 


38 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


systematized  cruelty  which  would  be  needed  if  Asia 
adopted  the  perfectly  simple  expedient  of  refusing 
to  work  for  Europeans,  a refusal  which  in  India, 
where  all  the  preliminary  conquering  and  garrison- 
ing and  organizing  for  revenue  purposes  has  been 
already  done,  would  bring  the  Empire  down  in  a 
month.  And  all  this  terrible  outlay  of  energy  and 
treasure  and  human  life  would  be  for  what  object  ? 
Simply  to  provide  opportunities  of  manufacturing 
prosperity  for  the  European  tribes,  which  oppor- 
tunities would  disappear  as  they  arose  under  the 
competition  of  the  Asiatic  factories  which  would 
arise  the  moment  order  was  secured.  The  masses 
of  Europe  who  rule  in  the  last  resort  do  not  par- 
ticularly care  to  conquer  Asia,  and  would  not  con- 
tinue for  ages  to  pay  taxes  for  that  purpose.  We 
are  all  devoted  to  the  “ Empire,”  of  which  India  is 
the  flower,  but  how  long  should  we  keep  the  Em- 
pire if  it  cost  us  a hundred  millions  a year  ? I do 
not  believe  that  Europe  will  make  the  effort  now, 
or  that  if  she  makes  it  some  years  hence  she  will 
succeed — as  I write  she  is  shrinking  from  it  in  China 
— or  that  if  she  does  succeed  she  will  even  in  count- 
less ages  seriously  “ influence,”  and  thereby  change 
the  masses  of  Asiatics.  At  some  period,  probably 
not  long  distant,  they  will,  as  they  always  have 
done,  throw  out  the  white  men,  not  because  they 
are  oppressors,  not  because  they  are  inferiors,  but 
because  they  are  intruders  whose  ideas  they  neither 
accept  nor  can  endure. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  39 


What  then,  it  will  be  asked,  is  to  become  of 
Asia,  now  for  the  most  part,  as  Poushkine  sang, 
“ in  dotage  buried  ” ? The  only  possible  reply  is 
what  God  wills,  and  not  what  Europe  wills.  Heaven 
has  tolerated  the  existence  of  that  huge  mass  of 
men  who  guide  their  lives  by  untrue  creeds  for 
many  thousands  of  years,  and  may  continue  to 
tolerate  it  for  many  thousands  more.  Who  knows 
the  purpose  of  the  Ancient  of  Days,  or  what  may 
be  the  use  of  the  imperfect  yet  productive  spiritu- 
ality of  the  Asiatic  mind  ? If  I were  to  indulge  in 
the  futile  work  of  dreaming,  I should  say  that  there 
were  signs  in  China  of  latent  but  bitter  dissatisfac- 
tion with  its  civilization,  leading  to  Taeping  move- 
ments, Reforming  movements,  anti-dynastic  move- 
ments, even,  on  the  Western  border,  to  movements 
in  favour  of  the  creed  Mahommed  taught,  and  that, 
as  Asiatics  rarely  move  save  under  a religious  im- 
pulse, the  hour  was  approaching  for  the  Mongolian 
masses  to  evolve  some  new  faith,  with  a new  ruler 
to  enforce  it.  God  grant,  if  that  happens,  that  it  be 
not  the  Mussulman  faith,  for  in  that  event  Europe 
will  have  an  awful  quarter  of  an  hour.  It  is,  how- 
ever, much  more  probable  that  Asia,  arming  itself 
with  the  rifle,  re-learning  the  use  of  mounted 
infantry,  which  Jenghiz  knew  before  the  Boer  did, 
and  enforcing  conscription  laws,  will  stand  on  the 
defensive  against  Europe,  and  otherwise  remain 
nearly  unchanged,  while  Europe  sees  her  own 
ascendency  transferred  to  the  Western  Continent. 


40 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


This  too,  however,  is  a dream,  for  all  we  know  for 
certain  is  that  Asia  has  always  remained  indepen- 
dent of  Europe,  and  now  shows  no  desire  for  her 
guidance,  rather  a resolution  not  to  accept  it.  The 
future  will  disclose  itself  by  degrees,  but  if  two 
hundred  years  hence  it  shows  Europe  ruling,  tax- 
ing, and  enlightening  the  great  mass  of  Asiatics, 
then  have  I,  as  is  quite  probable,  read  history 
in  vain. 

In  the  present  state  of  opinion  and  current  ot 
events,  it  may  be  advisable  to  end  these  few  re- 
flections by  saying  that  none  of  them  apply  to 
Africa  or  its  black  inhabitants.  They  are  divided 
off  from  Asiatics  by  two  well-marked  distinctions 
and  one  more  doubtful.  In  the  first  place  they 
seem  incapable  of  even  limited  progress.  The 
dwellers  by  the  Congo  have  all  the  advantages  of 
the  dwellers  by  the  Nile,  but  have  remained  for 
thousands  of  years  hopeless  and  by  no  means 
happy  barbarians.  They  cease  to  be  so  hopeless 
when  conquered  by  the  white  men,  there  being 
perceptible  advance  even  when,  as  in  the  Southern 
States  of  the  Union,  the  white  men  were  by  no 
means  intent  on  turning  them  into  civilized  people. 
The  Arabs  have  in  many  places  taught  them  to 
build  habitable  cities,  to  cultivate  the  ground  and 
to  understand  a rudimentary  military  discipline,  and 
it  seems  more  than  probable  that  the  white  peoples 
can  teach  them  even  superior  lessons — at  least 
that  is  the  inference  from  the  recent  history  of 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPE  ON  ASIA  41 


Uganda,  and  of  Khama’s  country.  In  the  second 
place  the  black  peoples  are  nearly  quite  devoid  of 
that  mass  of  beliefs,  thoughts  and  experiences  which 
render  Asiatics  so  incurably  hostile  to  white  influ- 
ence. The  broad  idea  of  the  negro  is  that  the 
white  man  is  his  superior,  and  when  not  intolerably 
oppressive  he  is  willing  to  accept  his  guidance 
and  his  authority.  The  absence  of  great  insur- 
rections among  the  blacks  of  the  Southern  States, 
the  very  faint  resistance  made  by  millions  in 
Western  and  Central  Africa,  and  the  ascendency 
acquired  by  many  Arabs  all  indicate  a willingness 
to  accept  external  leadership  which  is  absent  in 
the  Asiatic.  It  seems  as  if  the  black  leather  bottle 
would  hold  new  wine  without  exploding.  And, 
lastly,  there  is  no  evident  antipathy  to  Christianity, 
which  is  received  with  a certain  readiness  — as 
also  no  doubt  is  Mahommedanism — and  which  by 
the  testimony  of  disinterested  observers  does  effect 
a marked  change  in  ideals  and  modes  of  life.  No 
doubt  Europe  may  be  disappointed  about  all  these 
things,  for  one  of  the  forgotten  facts  of  the  situation 
is  the  shortness  of  the  time,  barely  two  centuries, 
during  which  the  aggressive  mind  of  Europe  has 
been  in  direct  contact  with  the  black  mind.  The 
black  man,  even  if  Christianized,  may  retain  im- 
pulses which  render  the  contiguity  of  the  white 
man  intolerable  to  him — as  is  suggested  to  be  the 
case  by  most  observers  in  Hayti.  Still  he  may 
remain  submissive  for  a long  period,  as  the  Indians 


42 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  South  America  have  done  to  the  Spaniard, 
and  may,  like  them,  when  emancipated,  show  in 
creed,  thought,  and  capacity  for  political  organiza- 
tion decided  traces  of  the  white  influence.  The 
problem  is  still  unsolved,  and  may  remain  unsolved 
for  many  generations  yet ; but  still  there  is  hope 
of  a solution  that  will  enable  European  and  African 
to  live  together  in  amity,  the  former  occupying 
a position  akin  to  that  of  a good  aristocracy,  the 
position  the  European  longs  for  in  Asia,  but  alas  ! 
does  not  attain. 


Islam  and  Christianity  in  India 

ONE-FIFTH  of  the  human  race  dwells  in  India, 
and  every  fifth  Indian  at  least  is  a Mahommedan, 
yet  many  people  contend  that  Islam  is  not  a creed 
which  propagates  itself  vigorously  in  the  great 
Peninsula.  Where  do  they  imagine  that  the  fifty 
odd  millions  of  Mussulmans  in  India  came  from  ? 
Not  ten  per  cent,  of  them  even  claim  to  be  the 
descendants  of  immigrants,  whether  Arab,  Persian, 
or  Pathan,  and  of  that  ten  per  cent,  probably  half 
are  descendants  only  by  adoption,  the  warrior  chiefs 
who  followed  successful  invaders  allowing  their 
bravest  adherents,  if  Mussulmans,  to  enrol  them- 
selves in  their  own  clans.  Almost  all,  moreover, 
are  half-breeds,  the  proportion  of  women  who 
entered  India  with  the  invaders  having  been 
exceedingly  small.  The  remainder — that  is,  at  least 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  whole  body — are  Indians  by 
blood,  as  much  children  of  the  soil  as  the  Hindoos, 
retaining  many  of  the  old  pagan  superstitions,  and 
only  Mussulmans  because  their  ancestors  embraced 
the  faith  of  the  great  Arabian.  They  embraced  it 
too  for  the  most  part  from  conviction.  There  is  a 

43 


44 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


popular  idea  in  this  country  that  India  was  at  some 
time  or  other  invaded  from  the  North  by  a mighty 
conqueror,  who  set  up  the  throne  of  the  Great 
Mogul,  and  compelled  multitudes  to  accept  Islam  at 
the  point  of  the  sword ; but  this  is  an  illusion. 
Mahommed  authorized  conversion  by  force,  and 
Islam  owes  its  political  importance  to  the  sword, 
but  its  spread  as  a faith  is  not  due  mainly  to  com- 
pulsion. Mankind  is  not  so  debased  as  that  theory 
would  assume,  and  the  Arab  conquerors  were  in  many 
countries  resisted  to  the  death.  The  pagan  tribes 
of  Arabia  saw  in  Mahommed’s  victories  proof  that 
his  creed  was  Divine,  and  embraced  it  with  a startling 
ardour  of  conviction  ; but  outside  Arabia  the  bulk 
of  the  common  people  who  submitted  to  the  Khalifs 
either  retained  their  faith,  as  in  Asia  Minor,  or  were 
extirpated,  as  in  Persia  and  on  the  southern  shore 
of  the  Mediterranean.  The  Arabs  colonized  on  an 
enormous  scale,  and  being  careless  what  women 
they  took,  mixed  their  blood  freely,  so  that 
in  Syria,  Egypt,  the  Soudan,  and  the  enormous 
territory  stretching  from  Barca  to  Tangier  the 
population  is  essentially  Arab  with  more  or  less 
of  crossing.  The  Tartars  were  persuaded,  not 
conquered,  and  they  and  the  Arabs  are  still  the 
dominant  races  of  the  Mussulman  world  which  has 
converted  no  European  race  except  a few  Albanians 
— with  all  their  intellectual  superiority  and  their 
military  successes,  the  Arabs  never  converted 
Spain — and  has  gained  its  converts  in  China  and 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  45 


in  Africa  almost  exclusively  by  preaching.  It  was 
the  same  in  India.  Here  and  there,  as  in  Sind  and 
Mysore,  a small  population  may  be  found  whose 
ancestors  were  converted  by  persecution,  and  doubt- 
less successful  invaders  occasionally  terrified  or 
bought  with  immunities  large  groups  of  Indians. 
But  that  the  process  was  neither  general  nor  steadily 
pursued  is  proved  by  two  broad  facts — first,  that 
India  is  not  a Mahommedan  country,  but  a Hindoo 
country  in  which  Mahommedans  are  numerous  ; and 
secondly,  that  in  no  part  of  the  Peninsula  can  the 
distribution  of  faith  be  fairly  considered  territorial. 
Mussulman  villages  are  everywhere  found  among 
Hindoo  villages,  and  Mussulman  families  dwell 
among  Hindoo  families  in  a way  which,  if 
India  had  ever  been  “converted”  systematically 
would  have  been  impossible.  The  early  mission- 
aries of  Islam  could  not  use  force,  and,  as  to 
the  invaders  who  conquered  and  remained,  they 
seldom  or  never  wished  to  use  it,  for  the  sufficient 
reason  that  it  was  not  their  interest.  They  wanted 
to  found  principalities,  or  kingdoms,  or  an  empire, 
not  to  wage  an  internecine  war  with  their  own  tax- 
paying  subjects,  or  to  arouse  against  themselves  the 
unconquerable  hostility  of  the  warrior  races  of  the 
gigantic  Peninsula,  who  were,  and  who  remain, 
Hindoo.  The  truth  is  that  Mahommedan  prosely- 
tism  by  preaching  began  in  India,  then  held  to  be 
far  the  richest  of  the  great  divisions  of  Asia,  within 
three  centuries  from  the  Hegira,  and  has  continued 


46 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ever  since — that  is,  for  a period  of  probably  nine 
hundred  years  at  least,  during  which  the  process, 
now  vigorous,  now  slackening,  has  never  been 
entirely  intermitted.  In  other  words,  Islam,  though 
often  assisted  by  authority,  has  taken  three  times  the 
time  to  convert  a fifth  of  the  people  of  India  that 
Christianity,  though  constantly  suffering  persecution, 
took  to  convert  the  Roman  Empire.  Islam  probably 
never  advanced  with  the  speed  of  Christianity  when 
first  contending  with  paganism,  and  certainly  never 
with  the  speed  with  which  the  faith  spread  in  the 
tenth  century  throughout  Russia. 

Yet  the  missionaries  of  Islam  from  the  first  had 
many  and  great  advantages.  They  were,  if  judged 
by  our  modern  standards,  exceedingly  numer- 
ous. The  more  fervent  Arabs,  with  their  gift  of 
eloquence  and  their  habit  of  teaching,  after  the  long 
battle  with  the  outside  world  had  ceased,  took  to  the 
work  of  proselytism  with  an  ardour  never  displayed 
by  modern  Christians,  and  as  fast  as  they  made 
converts  they  raised  up  new  missionaries,  often  by 
villages  at  a time.  Europeans  habitually  forget 
that  every  Mussulman  is  more  or  less  of  a mission- 
ary— that  is,  he  intensely  desires  to  secure  converts 
from  non- Mussulman  peoples.  Such  converts  not 
only  increase  his  own  chance  of  heaven,  but  they 
swell  his  own  faction,  his  own  army,  his  own  means 
of  conquering,  governing,  and  taxing  the  remainder 
of  mankind.  All  the  emotions  which  impel  a 
Christian  to  proselytize  are  in  a Mussulman 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  47 


strengthened  by  all  the  motives  which  impel  a 
political  leader  and  all  the  motives  which  sway  a 
recruiting  sergeant,  until  proselytism  has  become 
a passion,  which,  whenever  success  seems  practic- 
able, and  especially  success  on  a large  scale, 
develops  in  the  quietest  Mussulman  a fury  of 
ardour  which  induces  him  to  break  down  every 
obstacle,  his  own  strongest  prejudices  included, 
rather  than  stand  for  an  instant  in  a neophyte’s 
way.  He  welcomes  him  as  a son,  and  whatever 
his  own  lineage,  and  whether  the  convert  be  Negro 
or  Chinaman  or  Indian  or  even  European,  he  will 
without  hesitation  or  scruple  give  him  his  own  child 
in  marriage,  and  admit  him  fully,  frankly,  and  finally 
into  the  most  exclusive  circle  in  the  world.  The 
missionaries  of  such  a faith  are  naturally  numerous, 
and  when  they  first  assailed  India  they  found,  as 
they  have  done  ever  since,  a large  proportion  of  the 
population  ready  at  least  to  listen  to  their  words.  India 
was  occupied  then,  as  it  is  occupied  now,  by  a thick 
population  of  many  races,  many  tongues,  and  many 
degrees  of  civilization,  but  all  differentiated  from  the 
rest  of  mankind  in  this.  Cultivated  or  uncultivated, 
they  had  all  keen  minds,  and  all  their  minds  were  oc- 
cupied by  the  old  problem  of  the  whence  and  whither. 
They  were  all  religious  in  a way,  and  all  afraid 
of  something  not  material.  Hindooism  was  then, 
as  it  is  now,  not  so  much  a creed  as  a vast  congeries 
of  creeds,  of  modes  of  belief  as  to  the  right  method 
of  escaping  an  otherwise  evil  destiny  rendered 


48 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


inevitable,  not  only  by  the  sins  of  this  life,  but  by 
the  sins  of  a whole  series  of  past  and  unremembered 
lives.  It  is  the  belief  in  transmigration  which 
Europeans  always  forget,  and  which  governs  the 
inner  souls  of  the  Hindoo  millions,  who  believe  in 
their  past  existence  as  fervently  as  orthodox  Chris- 
tians believe  in  a future  one.  The  efforts  to  solve 
the  problem  and  rescue  themselves  from  destiny 
were  endless,  and  affected  millions.  Some  heresies 
involved  whole  peoples.  One  heresy,  Buddhism, 
almost  became  the  creed  of  the  land.  Great  heretics 
made  more  converts  than  Luther.  New  cults  rose 
with  every  generation  into  partial  favour.  New 
castes  sprang  up  almost  every  year — that  is,  new 
groups  of  persons  separated  themselves  from  the 
rest  of  mankind  in  order,  through  new  rules  of  cere- 
monial purity,  to  ensure  further  their  security  against 
a pursuing  fate.  The  process  which  now  goes  on 
endlessly  then  went  on  endlessly,  till  India  was  a 
sweltering  mass  of  beliefs,  ideas,  religious  customs, 
and  rules  of  life  all  or  nearly  all  instigated  by  fear, 
by  an  acute  dread  that  somehow,  after  so  much 
labour,  so  much  self-denial,  such  hourly  bondage  to 
ceremonial  precaution,  the  end  might  ultimately  be 
missed.  The  essence  of  the  life  of  Hindooism,  if 
not  of  its  creeds,  is  fear — fear  of  the  unknown  result 
which  may  follow  upon  error  either  in  conduct  or  in 
faith  or  in  ceremonial.  A single  belief,  the  belief 
in  his  pre-existence,  which  is  firmly  accepted  by 
every  Hindoo,  fills  his  mind  with  vague  terrors 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  49 


from  which,  while  that  conviction  lasts,  there  cannot 
be  by  possibility  any  full  relief.  He  is  responsible 
for  sins  he  knows  nothing  of,  and  who  can  say  that 
any  punishment  for  them  would  be  unjust  or  exces- 
sive ? If  misfortune  comes  to  him,  that  is  his  due, 
and  a Hindoo,  once  unlucky,  often  broods  like  a 
Calvinist  who  thinks  he  is  not  of  the  elect.  The 
modes  of  obtaining  safety  are  infinite,  but  are  all 
burdensome,  and  all,  by  the  confession  of  those  who 
use  them,  are  more  or  less  uncertain. 

Amidst  this  chaos  the  missionaries  of  Islam 
preached  the  haughtiest,  the  most  clear- cutting,  and 
the  least  elevated  form  of  monotheism  ever  taught 
in  this  world — a monotheism  which  accounted  for 
all  things,  ended  discussion,  and  reconciled  all  per- 
plexities by  affirming  that  there  existed  a Sultan  in 
the  sky,  a God,  sovereign  in  His  right  as  Creator, 
unbound  even  by  His  own  character,  who  out  of 
pure  will  sent  these  to  heaven  and  those  to  hell, 
who  was  Fate  as  well  as  God.  This  Being,  lonely, 
omnipotent,  and  eternal,  had  revealed  through 
Mahommed  His  will,  that  those  who  believed  in 
Him  should  have  eternal  bliss  in  a heaven  which 
was  earth  over  again  with  its  delights  intensified 
and  its  restrictions  removed,  and  that  those  who 
disbelieved  should  suffer  torment  for  evermore. 
Could  anything  be  more  attractive  to  a Hindoo  ? 
If  he  only  accepted  the  great  tenet,  which,  after  all, 
he  suspected  to  be  true,  for  the  notion  of  the  Supreme 
lurks  in  Hindooism,  and  is  always  unconditioned,  his 


E 


5© 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


doubts  were  all  resolved,  his  fears  were  all  removed, 
his  ceremonial  burdens  were  all  lifted  off  him,  and 
he  stepped  forward  comparatively  a free  man.  Year 
after  year,  century  after  century,  thousands  turned 
to  this  new  faith  as  to  a refuge,  tempted,  not  by 
its  other  and  baser  attractions,  to  be  discussed 
presently,  but  by  what  seemed  to  the  converts 
the  intellectual  truth  of  this  central  tenet,  by  which 
the  complexity  of  the  world  was  ended,  for  all 
things  were  attributed  to  a sovereign  Will,  whose 
operation  explained  and  justified  the  Destiny  which 
is  to  a Hindoo  the  ever  present  problem  of  his  life. 
Nothing  goes  as  it  should,  yet  all  things  must  be 
going  as  they  should  ; what  better  or  easier  recon- 
ciliation of  those  facts  than  the  existence  of  a 
Creator  who,  because  He  created,  rules  all  as  He 
will  ? Monotheism  explains  the  mystery  of  the 
universe,  and  to  the  Hindoo  dissatisfied  with 
Hindooism  seemed  perfect  light. 

In  teaching  this  faith  the  missionaries  of  Islam 
had  some  further  advantages  besides  its  simplicity, 
though  they  are  not  those  usually  ascribed  to 
them.  To  begin  with,  whether  Arabs  or  Pathans 
or  Persians  or  Indian  converts,  they  and  their 
hearers  were  equally  Asiatics,  and  had  therefore 
a profound,  though  hardly  conscious,  sympathy. 
It  may  be  hard  to  explain  in  what  the  comity 
of  Asia  consists,  but  of  its  existence  there  can 
be  no  reasonable  doubt.  Something  radical,  some- 
thing unalterable  and  indestructible,  divides  the 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  51 


Asiatic  from  the  European.  Stand  in  a great 
Asiatic  bazaar,  with  men  of  twenty  races  and  ten 
colours  and  fifty  civilizations  moving  about  it,  and 
every  one  is  bound  to  every  other  by  a common 
distaste  for  the  European,  even  if  he  is  an  ally. 
There  is  not  a European  in  Europe  or  America 
who  does  not  feel  that  between  himself  and  the  Jew 
there  is  some  dividing  line  which  is  independent 
of  creed  or  of  culture  or  of  personal  respect.  Of 
all  Christians,  again,  the  most  determined  and, 
politically,  the  most  powerless  is  the  Armenian, 
but  he  is  a true  Asiatic,  and  accordingly,  in  the 
deepest  recesses  of  the  Mussulman  world,  in  Arabia 
or  in  Afghanistan,  wrhere  any  other  Christian  would 
be  slain  at  sight,  he  passes  along  as  safe,  from  all 
save  contempt,  as  any  follower  of  Islam.  Those 
evidences  seem  unanswerable,  but  there  is  one 
stronger  still.  The  faith  of  the  Moslem  makes 
him  accept,  and  accept  heartily,  every  convert,  be 
he  Chinese  or  Negro  or  Indian,  as  a brother;  but 
he  regards  one  convert  with  a dull,  inactive,  but 
unsleeping  suspicion,  and  that  is  the  European 
renegade.  The  missionaries  of  Islam  were  personally 
acceptable  in  India  because  they  were  Asiatics, 
and  because,  though  the  creed  they  taught  was 
universal,  the  rule  of  life  by  which  it  was  accompanied 
was  Asiatic  too. 

I do  not  mean  by  this,  as  most  writers  do,  that 
the  laxity  of  the  sexual  ethics  taught  by  Mahommed 
was  especially  attractive  to  the  Hindoo.  I doubt  if 


52 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


such  laxity  is  attractive  to  any  men  seeking  light,  or 
has  ever  assisted  greatly  in  the  spread  of  any  creed. 
The  chastity  of  Christianity  did  not  stop  its  spread 
in  the  dissolute  society  of  the  rotting  Roman  world. 
Of  all  the  greater  faiths  Islam  is  the  least  elevated 
in  this  respect,  for  it  allows  not  only  polygamy,  but 
free  divorce  at  the  man’s  will,  and  concubinage 
limited  only  by  his  power  of  purchasing  slaves. 
It,  in  fact,  consecrates  the  harem  system,  and, 
except  as  regards  adultery  or  unnatural  crime, 
legitimizes  the  fullest  and  most  unscrupulous 
indulgence  of  lust.  Nevertheless,  it  has  never 
attracted  the  more  lustful  nations  of  Europe,  such 
as  the  French;  it  is  rejected  by  the  least  continent 
of  mankind,  the  Chinese,  and  it  has  been  accepted 
by  millions  of  women,  on  whose  behalf  it  relaxes 
nothing  either  in  this  world  or  the  next.  It  is  quite 
clear  that  polygamy  is  not  the  attraction  of  Islam 
for  them,  nor  are  they  promised  male  houris  in 
Paradise,  even  if  they  have  any  chance  of  attaining 
to  Paradise  at  all.  The  truth  is,  that  men  desire 
in  a creed  an  ideal  higher  than  their  practice.  The 
most  dissolute  of  European  societies  foisted  upon 
Christianity  a restriction,  celibacy,  stronger  than 
any  Christ  had  taught ; and  even  among  male 
Asiatics  it  is  doubtful  if  laxity  is  so  attractive 
as  is  commonly  supposed.  Asiatics  care,  it  is  true, 
nothing  about  purity,  which,  among  Christians,  is 
as  much  valued  as  chastity,  and  more  safeguarded 
by  opinion,  the  Asiatics  holding  that  lust,  like 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  53 


hunger,  is  neither  evil  nor  good,  but  a mere 
appetite,  the  gratification  of  which  under  regula- 
tion is  entirely  legitimate.  They  are,  therefore, 
tolerant  of  lustful  suggestions  even  in  their  religious 
books,  care  nothing  about  keeping  them  out  of 
literature  or  art,  and  do  not  understand,  still  less 
appreciate,  the  rigid  system  of  obscurantism  by 
which  the  European  avoids  the  intrusion  into 
ordinary  life  of  anything  that  may  even  accidentally 
provoke  sexual  desire.  But  as  regards  the  actual 
intercourse  of  the  sexes  Asiatics  are  not  lax.  The 
incontinence  of  the  young  is  prevented  by  a careful 
system  of  betrothals  and  early  marriages ; even 
Mahommedanism  punishes  adultery  with  death  ; 
Buddhism  is  in  theory  nearly  as  clean  as  Chris- 
tianity; and  the  Hindoo,  besides  being  mono- 
gamous, regards  divorce  as  at  once  monstrous  and 
impossible.  It  is  probable  that  the  laxity  of  Islam 
in  its  sexual  ethics  repelled  rather  than  attracted 
Hindoo  men,  while  to  Hindoo  women  it  must  have 
been  as  disgusting  as  to  Christians.  The  strongest 
proof  of  the  grip  that  Islam  takes,  when  it  takes  hold 
at  all,  is  that  in  India  women  have  been  converted  as 
numerously  as  men,  though  the  Hindoo  woman  in 
accepting  Islam  loses  her  hope  of  heaven  and  the 
security  of  her  position  on  earth  both  together. 
This  repulsion,  however,  did  not  prevent  con- 
version. The  Hindoo  never  regards  the  sexual 
question  as  of  high  spiritual  importance,  and  his 
philosophy  trains  him  to  believe  that  all  ethics 


54 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


are  personal — that  that  which  is  forbidden  to  one 
man  may  not  only  be  allowed  to  another,  but 
enjoined  upon  him.  It  may  be,  for  instance, 
imperative  on  an  ordinary  Brahmin  to  restrict 
himself  to  one  wife,  yet  it  may  be  perfectly  right 
for  a Koolin  Brahmin  to  marry  sixty ; and  though 
infanticide  is  to  Hindoos,  as  to  Christians,  merely 
murder,  there  are  tribes,  often  of  the  strictest  purity 
of  the  faith,  in  which  the  practice  is  considered 
blameless.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  a Hindoo  would 
altogether  condemn  a Thug,  quite  certain  that  he 
tolerates  in  certain  castes  practices  he  considers 
infamous  in  certain  others.  The  Hindoo  convert 
to  Islam  therefore  accepted  polygamy  as  allowed 
by  God,  who  alone  could  allow  or  disallow  it, 
and  for  the  rest  he  found  in  the  sacred  Law  or 
Mahommedan  rule  of  life  nothing  that  was  repellent. 

That  law,  to  begin  with,  allowed  him  to  live  the 
caste  life — to  be,  that  is,  a member  of  an  exclusive 
society  maintaining  equality  within  its  own  confines, 
but  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  an  invisible 
but  impassable  barrier  or  custom  rigid  as  law.  Such 
a caste  the  Indian,  always  timid,  always  conscious  of 
being  a mere  grain  in  a sand-heap,  and  always  liable 
to  oppression,  holds  to  be  essential  to  his  safety, 
secular  and  spiritual,  and  he  gives  it  up  with  a 
wrench  which  is  to  a European  inconceivable. 
Once  out  of  caste  he  is  no  longer  a member  of  a 
strongly  knit,  if  limited,  society,  which  will  protect 
him  against  the  external  world,  give  him  countenance 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  55 


under  all  difficulties,  and  assure  him  all  the  pleasant 
relations  of  life,  but  is  a waif,  all  alone,  with  every 
man’s  hand  against  him,  and  with  every  kind  of 
oppression  more  than  possible.  Where  is  he  to 
seek  a surety,  and  where  a wife  for  his  son  ? The 
missionaries  of  Islam  did  not,  and  do  not,  ask  him 
to  abandon  caste,  but  only  to  exchange  his  caste  for 
theirs,  the  largest,  the  most  strictly  bound,  and  the 
proudest  of  all,  a caste  which  claims  not  only  a special 
relation  to  God,  but  the  right  of  ruling  absolutely  all 
the  remainder  of  mankind.  Once  in  this  caste  the 
Hindoo  convert  would  be  the  brother  of  all  within  it, 
hailed  as  an  equal,  and  treated  as  an  equal,  even  upon 
that  point  on  which  European  theories  of  equality 
always  break  down,  the  right  of  intermarriage. 
John  Brown,  who  died  gladly  for  the  Negro  slave, 
would  have  killed  his  daughter  rather  than  see  her 
marry  a Negro,  but  the  Mussulman  will  accept 
the  Negro  as  son-in-law,  as  friend,  or  as  king  to 
whom  his  loyalty  is  due.  The  Negro  blood  in  the 
veins  of  the  present  Sultan  affects  no  Mussulman’s 
loyalty,  and  “ Hubshees,”  who  looked,  though  they 
were  not,  Negroes,  have  in  India  carved  out  thrones. 
The  Mussulman  caste,  as  a caste,  attracts  the  Hindoo 
strongly,  and  so  does  the  family  life  of  Islam,  which 
leaves  him  just  the  seclusion,  just  the  household 
peace,  and  just  the  sovereignty  within  his  own 
doors  which  are  dear  to  his  soul.  He  craves  for 
a place  where  he  may  be  in  society,  and  yet  out  of 
society ; not  alone,  and  yet  free  for  a time  from  the 


56 


ASM  AND  EUROPE 


pressure  and  even  from  the  observation  of  the  outer 
world,  which  beyond  the  confines  of  his  own  caste 
is,  if  not  directly  hostile,  at  the  best  impure ; and 
in  Mahommedanism  he  finds  his  secluded  home 
untouched.  Islam  leaves  him  his  old  sacred 
authority  over  his  sons,  an  authority  never  ques- 
tioned, far  less  resisted,  and,  what  he  values  still 
more,  authority  to  dispose  of  his  daughters  in 
marriage  at  any  age  he  himself  deems  fitting.  This 
privilege  is  to  him  of  inestimable  value — is,  indeed, 
the  very  key-note  of  any  honourable  and  therefore 
happy  condition  of  life. 

It  is  necessary  upon  this  matter  to  be  a little 
plain.  Nothing  can  be  finer  than  the  relation  of  an 
Indian  father  to  his  children,  except  perhaps  their 
relation  to  him.  His  solicitude  and  their  obedience 
know  no  end,  and  there  is  as  a rule  extraordinarily 
little  tyranny  displayed  in  the  management  of  the 
young.  The  tendency  indeed  is  to  spoil  them,  but 
there  is  one  grand  exception  to  this  habit  of  tender- 
ness. The  highest  spirited  European  noble  is  not 
more  sensitive  about  the  chastity  of  his  daughters 
than  the  Indian  of  any  class,  but  the  ideas  of  the 
two  men  as  to  the  effectual  method  of  securing  it 
are  widely  apart.  The  European  trusts  to  his 
daughter’s  principles,  to  an  invisible  but  unbreak- 
able wall  of  stringent  etiquettes,  to  an  ignorance 
fostered  by  a mother’s  care,  and  to  the  compara- 
tively late  age  at  which  for  physiological  reasons  the 
passions  wake  in  Europe.  The  Indian  knows 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  57 


that  every  girl  born  in  his  climate  may  be  a 
mother  at  eleven,  while  she  is  still  a baby  in  intel- 
lect and  in  self  control,  knows  that  while  still  a 
child  her  passions  wake,  knows  that  he  cannot  keep 
her  ignorant,  and  knows  that  he  can  no  more  at 
that  age  trust  her  principles  than  he  could  trust  her 
not  to  play  with  toys  or  eat  the  sweetmeats  before 
her  lips.  The  choice  before  him  is  early  betrothal 
at  his  discretion,  not  hers,  for  she  is  incompetent  to 
choose ; or  the  seclusion  in  a nunnery,  which,  if 
early  marriage  is  ever  abolished  in  India,  will  be 
the  inevitable  alternative,  as  it  is  now  among  the 
better  classes  in  France.  He  has  decided  for  the 
former  course,  and  the  new  creed  which  approves 
and  ratifies  that  decision  is  to  him  therefore  an 
acceptable  one.  His  notion  of  honourable  life  is 
not  upset  by  the  notion  of  his  teachers,  who  upon 
all  such  points  sympathize  with  him  to  the  full.  As 
to  the  ceremonial  restrictions  involved  in  Mahom- 
medanism,  they  are  most  of  them  his  own  restric- 
tions, much  liberalized  in  theory  ; and  one  of  them 
receives  his  conscientious  and  most  cordial  approval. 
Here  again  it  is  necessary  to  be  plain.  In  the 
present  excited  condition  of  English  and  American 
opinion  upon  the  subject  of  alcohol,  it  is  vain  to 
hope  that  the  unvarnished  truth  will  be  listened  to 
without  contempt,  but  still  it  ought  to  be  told. 
There  are  temptations  which  tell  differently  on 
different  men,  and  which,  innocent  for  one  set,  are 
debasing — that  is,  utterly  evil — for  another.  There 


58 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


are  two  moralities  about  drink,  just  as,  if  the  effect 
of  opium  were  different  on  different  varieties  of 
mankind,  there  would  be  two  moralities  about 
opium.  The  white  races  do  not  suffer,  except  as 
individuals,  from  alcohol.  They  do  not  as  races 
crave  it  in  excess,  and  except  in  excess  it  harms 
them  only  by  causing  an  enormous  and  in  great 
part  useless  waste  of  their  labour.  The  white  races 
which  drink  wine  do  not  appear  to  have  suffered  at 
all,  and  even  the  white  races  which  drink  spirits 
have  suffered  very  little.  It  is  mere  nonsense  to 
talk  of  either  the  French  or  the  Scotch  as  inferior 
peoples,  and  the  Teutons  in  all  their  branches  have 
done  in  all  departments  of  life  all  that  men  may  do. 
Individuals  of  all  these  races  have  suffered  from 
drink  in  such  numbers  as  to  produce  an  unnatural 
average  of  crime,  but  the  races  have  neither 
perished  nor  grown  weak,  nor  shown  any  tendency 
to  deterioration  in  intellectual  power  or  in  morale. 
The  Scotch  are  better  than  they  were  three  centuries 
ago  ; and  the  Jews,  who  drink  everywhere,  remain 
everywhere  the  same.  It  is  different  with  the  dark 
races  and  the  red  races.  Owing  probably  to  some 
hitherto  untraced  peculiarity  of  either  their  physical 
or  more  probably  their  mental  constitutions,  alcohol 
in  any  quantity  seems  to  set  most  Asiatics — the  Jews 
are  an  exception — on  fire,  to  produce  an  irresistible 
craving  for  more,  and  to  compel  them  to  go  on  drink- 
ing until  they  are  sunk  in  a stupor  of  intoxication. 
They  appear  to  delight  but  little  in  the  exhilaration 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  59 


produced  by  partial  inebriety,  and  to  seek  always  a 
total  release  from  consciousness  and  its  oppressions. 
The  condition  of  “ dead  drunkness,”  which  few  even 
of  drinking  Northerners  enjoy,  is  to  them  delightful. 
“ I not  drinkee  for  drinkee,”  said  the  Madras  man  ; 
“ I drinkee  for  drunkee.”  Alcohol  is  therefore  to 
such  races  an  intolerable  evil,  and  its  consumption 
by  them  is  in  the  eyes  of  all  strict  moralists  an 
immorality.  It  is  the  doing  of  a thing  known  to  be 
for  that  man  evil.  This  desire  to  drink  for  drinking’s 
sake  probably  became  stronger  when  the  Aryans 
descended  from  the  land  of  the  grape  to  regions 
where  it  cannot  be  obtained,  yet  where  arrack  can 
be  made  in  every  village  ; and  their  early  legislators 
therefore  prohibited  the  use  of  alcohol  with  an  abso- 
lute rigour  which  produced  in  the  course  of  ages 
an  instinctive  abhorrence.  No  respectable  Hindoo 
will  touch  alcohol  in  any  form ; and  the  Mahomme- 
dan  restriction,  which  it  is  said  cost  Islam  the 
adherence  of  the  Russian  people,  seems  to  Hindoos 
a supplementary  evidence  of  the  Divine  origin  of 
the  creed. 

With  their  path  thus  cleared,  with  their  great 
numbers  and  with  their  persistent  zeal,  the  mission- 
aries of  Islam  ought  long  ere  this  to  have  converted 
the  whole  population  of  India  to  their  faith  ; and  it 
is  a little  difficult  to  account  for  the  slowness  of 
their  progress.  The  best  explanation  probably  is  to 
be  found  in  the  dogged  resistance  of  the  priesthood, 
whose  hold  over  the  people  is  riveted  by  the  superi- 


6o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ority  of  their  blood  and  of  their  natural  intelligence, 
the  Brahmin  boy,  for  example,  beating  every  other 
boy  in  every  college  in  the  country  ; in  the  conser- 
vatism of  the  masses,  which  rejects  innovation  as 
impiety  ; and  in  the  saturation  of  the  Hindoo  mind 
with  the  pantheistic  idea,  which  is  utterly  opposed 
to  Mahommedanism  and  to  the  whole  series  of 
assumptions  upon  which  that  creed  rests.  It  is 
probable  too  that  patriotism,  or  rather  pride,  has 
had  its  weight;  and  that  the  Hindoos,  vain  of  their 
antiquity,  of  their  intellectual  acuteness,  and  of  their 
powers  of  resistance,  have  refused  to  break  with  the 
past,  which  to  them  is  always  present,  by  accepting 
an  alien,  though  attractive,  faith.  Whatever  the 
cause,  the  fact  is  certain,  Islam  has  advanced  and  is 
advancing  but  slowly  towards  the  destined  end. 
Even  if  there  has  been  no  natural  increase  of  popu- 
lation, the  conversions  cannot  have  exceeded  50,000 
a year  upon  an  average  since  proselytism  first 
began — a small  number  when  the  original  successes 
of  the  faith  in  Arabia  are  considered.  It  is  prob- 
able, however,  that  the  conversions  have  been  far 
below  that  figure,  and  that  even  now,  when  prose- 
lytizing energy  has  been  revived  by  a sort  of 
Protestant  revival  in  Arabia,  they  hardly  reach 
throughout  the  continent  more  than  50,000  a year. 
Still  they  go  on.  Mahommedanism  benefits  by  the 
shaking  of  all  Hindoo  beliefs,  which  is  the  marked 
fact  of  the  day  ; and  it  is  nearly  certain  that,  should 
on  new  spiritual  agency  intervene,  the  Indian 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  61 


peoples,  who  are  already  betraying  a tendency  to 
fuse  themselves  into  one  whole,  will  at  last  become 
Mahommedan.  None  who  profess  that  faith  ever 
quit  it ; the  tendency  towards  physical  decay  visible 
in  so  many  Mussulman  countries  is  not  perceptible 
in  India,  and  in  the  later  stages  conversion  will 
probably  be  accelerated  by  a decided  use  of  force. 

Whether  a Mahommedan  is  a better  man  than 
a Hindoo  it  is  impossible  to  decide  ; for  though 
Islam  is  the  higher  creed,  it  is  far  more  inimical 
to  progress — is  indeed  a mental  cul  de  sac , allowing 
of  no  advance — but  that  its  disciples  are  higher 
in  the  political  scale  and  will  ultimately  hold  the 
reins  is  a truth  almost  self  evident.  They  are  only 
one  fifth  of  the  population.  They  would  have  little 
external  aid  except  from  a few  Pathans  and  possibly 
Soudanese,  and  they  do  not  include  the  bulk  of  the 
fighting  races — the  Sikhs,  Rajpoots,  Hindostanees, 
Beharees  and  Mahrattas — but  nevertheless  few  ob- 
servers doubt  that,  if  the  English  army  departed, 
the  Mahominedans,  after  one  desperate  struggle 
with  the  Sikhs,  would  remain  supreme  in  the 
Peninsula.  They  are  all  potential  soldiers ; they 
are  all  capable  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  faith  ; and 
they  are  all  willing  to  cohere  and  to  acknowledge 
one  common  and  central  authority.  They  know 
how  to  make  themselves  obeyed,  and,  though  cruel, 
they  do  not  excite  the  kind  of  hate  which  drives 
subjects  to  despair.  They  have  impressed  them- 
selves upon  India  as  the  ruling  caste.  Hindoos 


62 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


superior  to  themselves  in  martial  qualities  will  yet 
serve  under  them;  and  when,  in  1857,  Northern 
India  tried  in  one  great  heave  to  throw  off  the 
European  yoke,  it  was  to  Delhi  and  the  effete  house 
of  Timour  that  Hindoos  as  well  as  Mussulmans 
turned  for  guidance  and  a centre.  Brahmin  Sepoys 
murdered  Christian  officers  in  the  name  of  a 
Mahommedan  Prince.  In  the  light  of  that  most 
significant  of  facts  it  is  difficult  to  doubt  that, 
though  the  process  may  be  slow,  India,  unless  all 
is  changed  by  the  intervention  of  some  new  force, 
must  in  no  long  period  of  time,  as  time  is  counted 
in  Asia,  become  a Mahommedan  country,  the 
richest,  the  most  populous,  possibly  the  most  civi- 
lized, possibly  also  the  most  anarchical  of  them  all. 
Mahommedanism  has  never  made  a nation  great, 
nor  have  its  civilizations  endured  long,  and  the 
history  of  the  Mogul  Empire  is  not  of  good  omen. 
It  produced  some  striking  characters,  many  great 
deeds,  and  a few  magnificent  buildings,  one  of  which, 
the  Taj  at  Agra,  is  peerless  throughout  the  world; 
but  it  rotted  very  early,  and  it  showed  from  first  to 
last  no  tendency  to  breed  a great  people.  The 
corruption  was  greater  under  Aurungzebe  than  under 
Baber,  and  the  ease  with  which  the  British  conquest 
was  effected  can  only  be  explained  by  a thorough 
exhaustion  of  Mussulman  morale.  They  were  the 
ruling  class,  they  held  all  the  springs  of  power, 
they  had  every  motive  for  fighting  hard,  they  were 
certainly  20,000,000  strong ; yet  all  our  great  wars 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  63 


were  waged,  not  with  Mussulmans,  but  with  Hin- 
doos, Mahrattas,  Pindarees,  Sikhs,  and  our  own 
Sepoys.  Had  they  possessed  in  1756-1800  one- 
half  the  energy  of  the  Khalsa  or  fighting  section  of 
the  Sikhs,  the  British  would  have  been  driven  out 
of  India,  or  out  of  all  India  except  Bengal,  by  sheer 
exhaustion  on  the  battlefield.  Still  if  India  becomes 
Mahommedan,  it  may  develop  (as  every  other 
Mussulman  country  has  done)  an  energy  which, 
though  temporary,  may  last  for  centuries  ; and  if  its 
dynasts  are  Arabs  or  native  Mussulmans  instead  of 
Tartars,  it  may  rise  to  great  heights  of  a certain 
kind  of  Oriental  civilization. 

The  intervening  spiritual  force  which  ought  to 
prevent  this  conversion  of  an  empire  to  a false  and 
entirely  non-progressive  creed  is  of  course  Christi- 
anity, and,  now  that  the  facts  are  better  known,  a 
cry  of  alarm  has  risen  from  the  Reformed  Churches 
at  the  slow  progress  of  Christian  proselytism  in 
India.  Surely,  it  is  argued,  there  must  be  some 
defect  in  the  system  of  bringing  our  faith  before  this 
people,  or  there  would  be  greater  results  from  efforts 
in  themselves  great,  and  supported  by  the  entire 
Christian  world  in  Europe  and  America.  Why  are 
the  Christians  so  few,  and  why  is  there  no  sign  that 
any  nation  in  India  is  embracing  Christianity,  or 
that  any  indigenous  Christian  Church  is  attracting, 
as  Buddhism  once  did,  millions  of  followers  ? Many 
writers,  provoked  by  this  cry,  have  endeavoured  to 
show  that  it  is  ill  founded,  and  have  published 


64 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


quantities  of  statistics  intended  to  prove  that  Christi- 
anity does  advance  more  rapidly  than  any  creed,  but 
no  one  who  knows  India  will  deny  that  the  com- 
plaint is  essentially  true.  The  number  of  Christians 
in  all  India  is  larger  than  is  commonly  supposed. 
There  are  660,000  belonging  to  the  Reformed 
Churches,  and  the  conversions,  if  we  include  the 
aboriginal  tribes,  are  becoming  more  numerous  in 
proportion  than  those  of  Mahommedanism ; but 
Christianity  has  taken  but  a poor  grip  on  Hindoo 
India.  The  creed  has,  except  in  Tinnevelly,  no 
perceptible  place  in  any  one  province.  Its  votaries 
are  nowhere  really  visible  among  the  population. 
Its  thoughts  do  not  affect  the  life,  or  perplex  the 
orthodoxy,  of  other  creeds.  No  Indian  Christian  is 
a leader  or  even  a quasi-leader  among  the  Indian 
peoples,  and  a traveller  living  in  India  for  two 
years,  and  knowing  the  country  well,  might  leave  it 
without  full  consciousness  that  any  work  of  active 
proselytism  was  going  on  at  all.  Christianity  has 
not  failed  in  India  as  some  allege,  but  it  has  failed 
as  compared  with  reasonable  expectation  and  with 
the  energy  expended  in  diffusing  it,  and  it  is  worth 
while  to  examine  quietly  and  without  prejudice  the 
probable  reasons  why.  To  do  this  more  easily, 
it  is  well  to  sweep  away  in  the  beginning  one  or  two 
popular  fallacies.  One  of  these  is,  that  white 
Christians  in  India  are  the  conquering  race,  and  that 
Christianity  is  therefore  detested  as  their  creed. 
That  is  not  true.  That  the  English  in  India  are 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  65 


regarded  by  large  sections  of  the  people  as  “ un- 
accountable, uncomfortable  works  of  God  ” may  be 
true  enough,  but  they  are  not  despised,  are  not  held 
to  be  bad,  and  do  not,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  in 
any  way  disgrace  their  creed.  To  the  bulk  of  the 
native  population  they  are  little  known,  because  they 
are  not  visible,  their  numbers,  except  in  the  seaports 
and  a few  garrison  towns,  being  inappreciable,  but 
those  who  know  them  know  and  admit  them  to  be 
a competent  people,  brave  in  war  and  capable  in 
peace,  always  just,  usually  benevolent,  though  never 
agreeable,  and  living  for  the  most  part  steadily  up  to 
such  light  as  they  have.  Even  if  they  were  worse 
it  would  make  little  difference,  the  Hindoo  being 
quite  capable  of  distinguishing  between  a creed  and 
its  professors,  and  seeing  that  his  own  people  also  as 
well  as  the  Mahommedans  constantly  fall  in  practice 
behind  the  teaching  of  their  own  faith.  As  for  the 
position  of  the  white  Christians  as  a dominant  caste, 
that  is  in  favour  of  their  religion,  for  it  shows  either 
that  a great  God  is  on  their  side,  or  that  they  enjoy, 
in  an  unusual  degree,  the  favour  of  Destiny.  The 
fact — which  is  a fact,  and  a very  curious  one — that 
the  white  Christians,  for  the  most  part,  do  not  wish 
the  Indians  to  be  converted,  has  no  doubt  an  influ- 
ence, of  which  we  will  speak  by  and  by,  but  in 
general  estimation  among  Indians  this  prejudice  is 
not  counted  to  their  discredit,  but  is  rather  held  to 
be  a reason  for  trusting  in  their  unsympathetic  impar- 
tiality. The  Hindoo,  too,  though  he  has  neither 

F 


66 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


reverence  nor  liking  for  the  social  system  of  his 
conquerors,  which  is  far  too  much  based  on  indi- 
vidualism for  his  taste,  has  a great  respect  for 
their  material  successes  and  for  their  powers  of 
thought,  which  in  many  directions,  especially  in 
governing  and  making  laws,  he  is  disposed  to  pre- 
fer greatly  to  his  own.  Taking  it  broadly,  it  may 
be  affirmed  that  the  fact  that  Christianity  is  the 
conquerors’  creed  makes  no  substantial  difference 
one  way  or  the  other.  It  is  again  affirmed  that 
Christianity  is  too  difficult  and  complex  a creed,  that 
it  demands  too  much  belief,  and  that  its  teachers 
insist  too  much  upon  the  acceptance  by  the  neophyte 
of  its  complexities  and  difficulties.  I see  no  found- 
ation whatever  for  that  statement.  The  difficulties 
of  Christianity  to  Christians  are  not  difficulties  to 
the  Hindoo.  He  is  perfectly  familiar  with  the  idea 
that  God  can  be  triune  ; that  God  may  reveal 
Himself  to  man  in  human  form;  that  a being  may 
be  at  once  man  and  God,  and  both  completely ; that 
the  Divine  man  may  be  the  true  exemplar,  though 
separated  from  man  by  His  whole  Divinity  ; and 
that  sin  may  be  wiped  off  by  a supreme  sacrifice. 
Those  are  the  ideas  the  missionaries  teach,  and  the 
majority  of  Hindoos  would  affirm  that  they  were 
perfectly  reasonable  and  in  accordance  with  the 
general  and  Divinely  originated  scheme  of  things. 
There  is  nothing  in  Christian  dogma  which  to  the 
Hindoo  seems  either  ridiculous  or  impossible,  while 
no  miracle  whatever,  however  stupendous,  in  the 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  67 


least  overstrains  the  capacity  of  his  faith.  There 
never  was  a creed  whose  dogmas  were  in  them- 
selves so  little  offensive  to  a heathen  people  as  the 
greater  dogmas  of  Christianity  are  to  the  Hindoo, 
who,  moreover,  while  hinting  that  the  second 
commandment  involved  an  impossibility  in  terms, 
a material  representation  of  the  universal  Spirit  being 
inconceivable,  would  allow  that  the  ten  constituted 
a very  fair  rule  of  life.  The  road  is  smooth  instead 
of  hard  for  the  Christian  theologian,  and  it  is  the 
perfect  comprehensibility  of  its  dogmas  which  makes 
the  Hindoo’s  unwillingness  to  believe  harder  to 
understand. 

The  real  difficulties  in  the  way  ©f  the  expansion 
of  Christianity  in  India  are,  I conceive,  of  three 
kinds  : one  due  to  the  creed  itself,  one  to  the  social 
disruption  which  its  acceptance  involves,  and  one  to 
the  imperfect,  it  may  even  be  said  the  slightly 
absurd,  method  hitherto  adopted  of  making  pro- 
selytes. 

1.  It  is  most  difficult  to  make  the  theological 
impediments  to  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  India 
clear  to  the  English  mind  without  being  accused 
either  of  irreverence  or  of  presumption.  Every 
missionary  has  his  own  ideas  of  those  difficulties — 
often  ideas  he  does  not  express,  derived  from  great 
experience — and  he  naturally  thinks  any  other  ex- 
planation either  insufficient  or  erroneous.  The 
attempt,  however,  must  be  made,  the  writer  premis- 
ing that  his  belief  is  based  on  conversations  with 


68 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Brahmins  of  great  acuteness,  continued  through  a 
period  of  many  years,  but  with  Brahmins  exclusively. 
No  man  not  a Christian  becomes  a Christian  to  his 
own  earthly  hurt  except  for  one  of  two  reasons. 
Either  he  is  intellectually  convinced  that  Christianity 
is  true — a conviction  quite  compatible  with  great 
distaste  for  the  faith  itself — or  he  is  attracted  by  the 
person  of  Christ,  feels,  as  the  theologians  put  it, 
the  love  of  Christ  in  him.  The  former  change 
happens  in  India  as  often  as  elsewhere  whenever 
the  Christian  mind  and  the  Hindoo  mind  fairly 
meet  each  other,  but  it  does  not  produce  the  usual 
result.  The  Hindoo  mind  is  so  constituted  that 
it  can  believe,  and  does  believe,  in  mutually  destruc- 
tive facts  at  one  and  the  same  time.  An  astronomer 
who  predicts  eclipses  ten  years  ahead  without  a 
blunder  believes  all  the  while,  sincerely  believes, 
that  the  eclipse  is  caused  by  some  supernatural  dog 
swallowing  the  moon,  and  will  beat  a drum  to 
make  the  dog  give  up  the  prize.  A Hindoo  will 
state  with  perfect  honesty  that  Christianity  is  true, 
that  Mahommedanism  is  true,  and  that  his  own 
special  variety  of  Brahminism  is  true,  and  that  he 
believes  them  all  three  implicitly.  The  relation 
between  what  Dr.  Newman  calls  “assent”  and  what 
we  call  “faith”  is  imperfect  with  Hindoos,  and  con- 
version may  be  intellectually  complete,  yet  be  for  all 
purposes  of  action  valueless.  Missionaries  are  con- 
stantly ridiculed  in  India  for  saying  that  they  have 
hearers  who  are  converts  but  not  Christians,  the 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  69 


idea  being  that  they  are  either  deluding  themselves 
or  dishonestly  yielding  to  the  English  passion  for 
tangible  results.  They  are  in  reality  stating  a simple 
truth,  which  embarrasses  and  checks  and,  sooth  to 
say,  sometimes  irritates  them  beyond  all  measure. 
What  are  you  to  do  with  a man  whom  you  have 
laboured  with  your  whole  soul  to  convince,  who  is 
convinced,  and  who  remains  just  as  unconvinced 
for  any  practical  purpose  as  he  was  before  ? The 
Hindoo,  be  it  understood,  is  not  skulking  or  shrink- 
ing from  social  martyrdom,  or  telling  lies ; he  really 
is  intellectually  a Hindoo  as  well  as  a Christian. 
Some  of  us  have  seen,  it  may  be,  the  same  position 
of  mind  in  the  case  of  a few  Roman  Catholic 
agnostics,  but  in  Europe  it  is  rare.  In  India  it  is 
nearly  universal,  and  the  extent  of  its  effect  as  a 
resisting  force  to  Christianity  is  almost  inconceivable 
to  a European.  The  missionary  makes  no  headway. 
He  is  baffled  at  the  moment  of  success  by  what 
seems  to  him  an  absurdity,  almost  a lunacy,  which 
he  yet  cannot  remove.  The  other  obstacle  is,  how- 
ever, yet  more  serious.  The  character  of  Christ 
is  not,  I am  convinced,  as  acceptable  to  Indians  as 
it  is  to  the  Northern  races.  It  is  not  so  completely 
their  ideal,  because  it  is  not  so  visibly  supernatural, 
so  completely  beyond  any  point  which  they  can, 
unassisted  by  Divine  grace,  hope  to  attain.  The 
qualities  which  seemed  to  the  warriors  of  Clovis 
so  magnificently  Divine,  the  self-sacrifice,  the 
self-denial,  the  resignation,  the  sweet  humility,  are 


7o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


precisely  the  qualities  the  germs  of  which  exist  in 
the  Hindoo.  He  seeks,  like  every  other  man,  the 
complement  of  himself,  and  not  himself  again,  and 
stands  before  Christ  at  first  comparatively  unat- 
tracted. The  ideal  in  his  mind  is  as  separate  as 
was  the  ideal  in  the  Jews’  mind  of  their  expected 
Messiah,  and  though  the  ideals  of  Jew  and  Hindoo 
are  different,  the  effect  is  in  both  cases  the  same — a 
passive  dull  repulsion,  scarcely  to  be  overcome  save 
by  the  special  grace  of  God.  I never  talked  frankly 
with  a Hindoo  in  whom  I did  not  detect  this  feeling 
to  be  one  inner  cause  of  his  rejection  of  Christi- 
anity. He  did  not  want  that  particular  sublimity 
of  character,  but  another,  something  more  of  the 
sovereign  and  legislator.  It  may  be  said  that  this 
is  only  a description  of  the  “carnal  man,”  and  so 
it  is,  but  the  carnal  man  in  each  race  differs,  and 
in  the  Hindoo  it  gives  him  a repugnance,  not  to 
the  morality  of  Christianity,  which  he  entirely 
acknowledges  to  be  good,  though  incomplete  as  not 
demanding  enough  ceremonial  purity,  but  to  the 
central  idea  of  all.  This  is,  when  all  is  said,  and 
there  is  much  to  say,  the  master  difficulty  of  Chris- 
tianity in  India,  and  the  one  which  will  delay 
conversion  on  a large  scale.  There  is  no  Christ 
in  Mahommedanism.  It  will  be  overcome  one  day 
when  Christ  is  preached  by  Christians  unsaturated 
with  European  ideas,  but  till  then  it  will  be  the 
least  removable  of  impediments,  though  it  produces 
this  result  also,  that  when  it  is  removed  the  true 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  71 


convert  will  display,  does  even  now  in  rare  cases 
display,  an  approximation  to  the  European  ideal 
of  Christ  such  as  in  Europe  is  scarcely  found,  or 
found  only  in  a few  men  whom  all  the  sects  join 
to  confess  as  saintly  Christians. 

2.  What  may  be  called  the  social  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  Christianity  is  very  great,  and  is  exasperated 
by  the  medium  through  which  it  is  propagated. 
The  convert  is  practically  required  to  renounce  one 
civilization  and  to  accept  another  not  in  his  eyes 
higher  than  his  own.  He  is  compelled  first  of  all 
to  “ break  his  caste,”  that  is,  to  give  up  irrecoverably 
— for  there  is  no  re-entry  into  Hindooism — his  per- 
sonal sanctity,  which  depends  on  caste,  and  his  fixed 
position  in  the  world,  and  his  kinsfolk  and  his  friends, 
and  to  throw  himself  all  bare  and  raw  into  a world 
in  which  he  instinctively  believes  nine-tenths  of 
mankind  to  be,  for  him,  impure.  He  must  eat  and 
drink  with  men  of  other  castes,  must  hold  all  men 
equal  in  his  sight,  must  rely  on  friendship  and  not 
on  an  association,  must  be  for  the  rest  of  his  life  an 
individual,  and  not  one  of  a mighty  company. 
There  is  no  such  suffering  unless  it  be  that  of  a 
Catholic  nun  flung  into  the  world  by  a revolutionary 
movement  to  earn  her  bread,  and  to  feel  as  if  the  very 
breeze  were  impiously  familiar.  Be  it  remembered,  a 
low-caste  man  feels  the  protection  of  caste  as  strongly 
as  a high-caste  man,  and  the  convert  to  Christianity 
does  not,  like  the  convert  to  Mahommedanism, 
merely  change  his  caste  ; he  loses  it  altogether. 


72 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


There  is  in  India  no  Christian  caste,  and  there 
never  will  be.  Not  to  mention  that  the  idea  is  in 
itself  opposed  to  Christianity,  there  can  be  no  such 
organization  unless  the  Europeans  will  admit 
equality  between  themselves  and  the  natives,  and 
they  will  not.  Something  stronger  than  themselves 
forbids  it.  They  may  be  wrong  or  right,  but  their 
wills  are  powerless  to  conquer  a feeling  they  often 
sorrow  for,  and  the  very  missionary  who  dies  a 
martyr  to  his  efforts  to  convert  the  Indians  would 
die  unhappy  if  his  daughter  married  the  best 
convert  among  them.  In  presence  of  that  feeling 
a Christian  caste  is  impossible,  for  the  Hindoo,  a 
true  Asiatic,  will  not  admit  that  with  equality  in 
caste  inequality  in  race  can  co-exist.  It  has  often 
been  suggested  that  this  obstacle  to  the  spread  of 
Christianity  is  wilful,  and  that  the  converts  might 
keep  their  caste,  but  the  plan  has  never  been  worked, 
and  never  can  be.  I firmly  believe  caste  to  be  a 
marvellous  discovery,  a form  of  socialism  which 
through  ages  has  protected  Hindoo  society  from 
anarchy  and  from  the  worst  evils  of  industrial  and 
competitive  life — it  is  an  automatic  poor-law  to 
begin  with,  and  the  strongest  form  known  of  trades 
union— -but  Christianity  demands  its  sacrifices  like 
every  other  creed,  and  caste  in  the  Indian  sense 
and  Christianity  cannot  co-exist.  With  caste  the 
convert  gives  up  much  of  his  domestic  law,  the 
harem-like  seclusion  of  his  home,  much  of  his  autho- 
rity over  wife  and  children,  his  right  of  compelling 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  73 


his  daughter  to  marry  early,  which,  as  explained  above, 
he  holds  part  of  his  honour,  most  of  his  daily  habits, 
and  even,  in  theory  at  all  events,  his  method  of 
eating  his  meals.  A Christian  cannot  condemn  his 
wife  to  eat  alone  because  of  her  inferiority.  Every- 
thing is  changed  for  him,  and  changed  for  the  un- 
accustomed, in  order  that  he  may  confess  his  faith. 
One  can  hardly  wonder  that  many,  otherwise  ready, 
shrink  from  such  a baptism  by  fire,  or  that  the 
second  generation  of  native  Christians  often  show 
signs  of  missing  ancient  buttresses  of  conduct.  They 
are  the  true  anxieties  of  the  missionaries,  and  it  is 
from  them  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  that  the  ill-repute 
of  Indian  Christians  is  derived ; but  European 
opinion  about  them  is  most  unfair.  They  are  not 
converts,  but  born  Christians,  like  any  of  our  own 
artisans ; they  have  not  gone  through  a mental 
martyrdom,  and  they  have  to  be  bred  up  without 
strong  convictions,  except  that  Christianity  is  doubt- 
less true,  without  the  defences  which  native  opinion 
has  organized  for  ages,  and  in  the  midst  of  a heathen 
society  in  which  the  white  Christians  declare  their 
children  shall  not  live.  One  such  man  I knew  well, 
who  showed  much  of  the  quality  of  the  European, 
a big,  bold  man,  though  a Bengalee  by  birth,  utterly 
intolerable  to  his  kinsfolk,  and  an  outcast  from  all 
native  society.  He  fought  his  battle  for  a good 
while  hard,  but  he  grew  bitter  and  savage,  became, 
among  other  changes,  a deadly  enemy  of  the  British 
Government,  and  at  last  solved  all  the  questions 


74 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


which  pressed  on  him  so  fiercely  by  turning  Mahom- 
medan.  A native  Christian  village  in  Canara  some 
years  since  followed  the  same  course,  and  it  may 
hereafter  be  a frequent  one. 

3.  The  greatest  obstacle,  however,  to  the  rapid 
diffusion  of  Christianity  in  India  is  the  method 
adopted  to  secure  proselytes.  The  Reformed 
Churches  of  Europe  and  America  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  old  object  with  some  zeal 1 and 
commendable  perseverance,  but  they  have  entirely 
failed  to  secure  volunteers  for  the  work.  Owing  to 
causes  very  difficult  to  understand,  missionary  work 
in  India  scarcely  ever  attracts  Europeans  possessed 
of  even  a small  independence,  and  the  number  of 
those  who  maintain  themselves  and  work  for  the 
cause,  seeking  no  pecuniary  aid  from  the  Churches, 
may  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand.  The 

1 Some  zeal.  It  is  not  very  much.  If  we  had  the  means  of 
deducting  the  contributions  of  about  2,000  families  who  are  the 
mainstay  of  all  missionary  bodies  and  of  all  charities,  the  amount 
raised  by  the  Churches  would  not  appear  large,  and  it  is  raised 
with  extreme  difficulty.  The  Churches,  pressed  by  home  wants 
and  conscious  of  great  ignorance,  will,  as  a rule,  give  nothing 
unless  stimulated  by  special  addresses,  and  the  expense  of  that 
stimulation  takes  a quite  unreasonable  percentage  from  mission 
funds.  The  individual  contributions  so  raised  are  exceedingly 
small,  and  the  demands  of  the  contributors  for  immediate  results 
are  ludicrously  unreasonable.  They  will  not  wait  for  the  oak  to 
grow,  and  a good  many  of  them  are  as  bad  as  the  Scotch  mer- 
chant who  at  last  rejected  a request  to  support  the  Society  for 
the  Conversion  of  the  Jews.  He  paid  once;  he  paid  twice;  but 

on  the  third  application  he  said,  “D it,  are  thae  Jews  no’  a’ 

convertit  yet  1 ” 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  75 


Churches,  therefore,  acting  for  the  most  part  indepen- 
dently, but  still  acknowledging  a federal  tie  of  good- 
will which  induces  them  to  avoid  interfering  with 
one  another,  have  organized  what  is  practically  a 
proselytizing  “service”  for  India,  consisting  now  of 
about  seven  hundred  men,  differing,  of  course, 
greatly  among  each  other,  but  most  of  them  as  well 
educated  as  average  English  or  Scotch  clergymen, 
most  of  them  married,  and  all  of  them  honestly 
devoted  to  their  work.  The  charges  sometimes 
brought  against  them  in  England,  but  never  in 
India,  are  not  only  unfounded,  but  nonsensical. 
Now  and  again  a missionary,  tempted  by  the  high 
rewards  offered  for  his  special  knowledge,  or  detect- 
ing in  himself  some  want  of  true  vocation,  embraces 
a secular  career,  and  is  thenceforward  regarded  by 
his  brethren  as  a backslider.  Now  and  again  a mis- 
sionary, disenchanted  or  conquered  by  that  disgust  of 
India  which  with  some  Europeans  becomes  a mental 
disease,  returns  to  the  West  to  commence  the  ordi- 
nary life  of  an  Established  or  Dissenting  clergyman. 
Now  and  again,  but  very  rarely,  a missionary  falls 
a prey  to  some  temptation  of  drink,  or  desire,  or 
gain,  and  is  cast  out,  his  comrades  “ inquiring  ” in 
such  cases  with  all  the  severity  and  more  than  the 
care  of  any  judicial  court.  But  the  Churches  are, 
for  the  most  part,  admirably  served.  The  mis- 
sionaries lead  excellent  and  hard-working  lives,  are 
implicitly  trusted  by  the  whole  community,  Euro- 
pean and  native,  and  rarely  resign  until  warned  by 


76 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


severe  illness  that  the  period  of  their  usefulness  is 
overpast.  Many  of  them  become  men  of  singular 
learning;  many  more  show  themselves  adminis- 
trators of  high  merit ; and  all  display  on  occasion 
that  reserve  of  energy  and  devotion  which  more 
than  any  other  thing  marks  that  the  heart  of  a 
service  is  sound.  Most  pathetic  stories  are  told  of 
their  behaviour  in  the  great  Mutiny,  but  I prefer  to 
tell  a little  anecdote  which  is  known  to  me  to  be 
true,  and  is  most  characteristic.  The  Rev. 
John  Robinson  was,  in  1850  or  1851,  an  unpaid 
missionary,  recognized  as  such  by  the  Baptist 
Church,  but  maintaining  himself  as  a translator. 
He  was  suddenly  summoned  one  day  to  the  Leper 
Asylum  to  baptize  a dying  convert.  The  message 
was  intended  for  his  father,  but  the  father  was  sick, 
and  my  friend  went  instead,  in  fear  and  trembling, 
baptized  the  dying  man,  consoled  him,  and  then 
was  seized  with  a throe  of  mental  agony.  It  is  the 
custom  of  many  missionaries  on  receiving  a neophyte, 
especially  if  sick,  to  give  him  the  kiss  of  peace. 
Mr.  Robinson  thought  this  his  bounden  duty,  but 
he  was  terribly  afraid  of  the  possible  contagion. 
He  hesitated,  walked  to  the  door,  and  returned  to 
kiss  the  leper  on  the  lips,  and  then  to  lie  for  days 
in  his  own  house,  prostrated  with  an  uncontrollable 
and,  as  experience  has  often  proved,  not  unreason- 
able nervous  terror.  A superstitious  fool  the 
doctor  thought  him  when  he  had  wormed  the 
truth  out  of  him  during  his  fit  of  nervous  horror. 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  77 


True  soldier  of  Christ,  say  I,  who,  when  his  duty 
called  him,  faced  something  far  worse  than  shot. 
The  body  of  the  missionaries  have  that  quality  in 
them,  and  those  who  depreciate  or  deride  them  do 
not  know  the  facts.  But  excellent  as  they  are,  it  is 
not  for  the  work  of  proselytism  that  they  are 
adapted. 

In  the  first  place,  they  are  too  few.  Every 
missionary  has  a wife,  a house,  a conveyance, 
children  who  must  be  sent  home  ; and  must,  being 
so  situated,  live  the  usual  and  respectable  European 
life.  That  costs  on  the  average  ^500  a year  per 
house  ;*  and  the  Churches,  which,  if  they  are  really 
to  reach  all  India,  need  at  least  5,000  agents, 
cannot,  or  at  all  events  will  not,  provide  for  more 
than  700.  In  the  second  place,  the  missionaries 
are  Europeans,  divided  from  the  people  by  a 
barrier  as  strong  as  that  which  separates  a China- 
man from  a Londoner,  by  race,  by  colour,  by  dress, 
by  incurable  differences  of  thought,  of  habit,  of 
taste,  and  of  language.  The  last  named  the 
missionary  sometimes,  though  by  no  means  always, 
overcomes,  but  the  remaining  barriers  he  cannot 

1 I defy  living  man,  not  being  secretary  to  a mission,  to  state 
accurately  what  a missionary  costs.  His  salary  can  be  easily 
ascertained,  but  in  addition  to  this  he  receives  an  allowance  for 
his  house,  for  his  conveyance,  and  for  passage  money  when  sick. 
Add  the  cost  of  his  share  of  general  expenses,  the  charitable 
allowance  for  his  widow,  and  the  grant-in-aid  to  the  school  for 
his  children,  and  the  total  will,  I feel  assured,  not  be  less  than 
the  sum  I have  mentioned. 


78 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


overcome,  for  they  are  rooted  in  his  very  nature, 
and  he  does  not  try.  He  never  becomes  an  Indian, 
or  anything  which  an  Indian  could  mistake  for 
himself : the  influence  of  civilization  is  too  strong 
for  him.  He  cannot  help  desiring  that  his  flock 
should  become  “ civilized  ” as  well  as  Christian ; 
he  understands  no  civilization  not  European,  and 
by  unwearied  admonition,  by  governing,  by  teach- 
ing, by  setting  up  all  manner  of  useful  industries, 
he  tries  to  bring  them  up  to  his  narrow  ideal. 
That  is,  he  becomes  a pastor  on  the  best  English 
model : part  preacher,  part  schoolmaster,  part  ruler  ; 
always  doing  his  best,  always  more  or  less  success- 
ful, but  always  with  an  eye  to  a false  end — the 
Europeanization  of  the  Asiatic — and  always  acting 
through  the  false  method  of  developing  the  desire 
of  imitation.  There  is  the  curse  of  the  whole 
system,  whether  of  missionary  work  or  of  education 
in  India.  The  missionary,  like  the  educationist, 
cannot  resist  the  desire  to  make  his  pupils  English, 
to  teach  them  English  literature,  English  science, 
English  knowledge  ; often — as  in  the  case  of  the 
vast  Scotch  missionary  colleges,  establishments  as 
large  as  universities,  and  as  successful  in  teaching 
— through  the  medium  of  English  alone.  He 
wants  to  saturate  Easterns  with  the  West.  The 
result  is  that  the  missionary  becomes  an  excellent 
pastor  or  an  efficient  schoolmaster  instead  of  a 
proselytizer,  and  that  his  converts  or  their  children 
or  the  thousands  of  pagan  lads  he  teaches  become 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  79 


in  exact  proportion  to  his  success  a hybrid  caste, 
not  quite  European,  not  quite  Indian,  with  the 
originality  killed  out  of  them,  with  self-reliance 
weakened,  with  all  mental  aspirations  wrenched 
violently  in  a direction  which  is  not  their  own. 
It  is  as  if  Englishmen  were  trained  by  Chinamen 
to  become  not  only  Buddhists,  but  Chinese.  The 
first  and  most  visible  result  is  a multiplication  of 
Indians  who  know  English,  but  are  not  English, 
either  in  intellectual  ways  or  in  morale ; and  the 
second  is  that,  after  eighty  years  of  effort,  no  great 
native  missionary  has  arisen,  that  no  great  Indian 
Church  has  developed  itself  on  lines  of  its  own 
and  with  unmistakable  self-dependent  vitality,  and 
that  the  ablest  missionaries  say  sorrowfully  that 
white  supervision  is  still  needed,  and  that  if  they 
all  retired  the  work  might  even  now  be  undone, 
as  it  was  in  Japan.  Where  3,000  preaching  friars 
are  required,  most  or  all  of  them  Asiatics,  living 
among  the  people,  thinking  like  them  as  regards 
all  but  creed,  sympathizing  with  them  even  in  their 
superstitions,  we  have  700  excellent  but  foreign 
schoolmasters  or  pastors  or  ruling  elders.  What 
is  wanted  in  India  for  the  work  of  proselytizing 
is  not  a Free  Church  College,  an  improved  Edin- 
burgh High  School,  teaching  thousands  of  Brahmins 
English,  but  an  El  Azhar  for  training  native 
missionaries  through  their  own  tongue,  and  in  their 
own  ways  of  thought  exclusively — a college  which 
should  produce,  not  baboos  competent  to  answer 


8o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


examination  papers  from  Cambridge,  but  Christian 
fanatics  learned  in  the  Christianized  learning  of 
Asia,  and  ready  to  wander  forth  to  preach,  and 
teach,  and  argue,  and  above  all  to  command  as 
the  missionaries  of  Islam  do.  Let  every  native 
Church  once  founded  be  left  to  itself,  or  be  helped 
only  by  letters  of  advice,  as  the  Churches  of  Asia 
were,  to  seek  for  itself  the  rule  of  life  which  best 
suits  Christianity  in  India,  to  press  that  part  of 
Christianity  most  welcome  to  the  people,  to  urge 
those  dogmatic  truths  which  most  attract  and  hold 
them.  We  in  England  have  almost  forgotten  those 
discussions  on  the  nature  of  God  which  divided 
the  Eastern  Empire  of  Rome,  and  which  among 
Christian  Indians  would  probably  revive  in  their 
fullest  force.  It  is  the  very  test  of  Christianity 
that  it  can  adapt  itself  to  all  civilizations  and 
improve  all,  and  the  true  native  Churches  of  India 
will  no  more  be  like  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
Europe  than  the  Churches  of  Yorkshire  are  like 
the  Churches  of  Asia  Minor.  Strange  beliefs, 
strange  organizations,  many  of  them  spiritual 
despotisms  of  a lofty  type,  like  that  of  Keshub 
Chunder  Sen,  the  most  original  of  all  modern 
Indians,  wild  aberrations  from  the  truth,  it  may 
be  even  monstrous  heresies,  will  appear  among 
them,  but  there  will  be  life,  conflict,  energy,  and 
the  faith  will  spread,  not  as  it  does  now  like  a 
fire  in  a middle-class  stove,  but  like  a fire  in  the 
forest.  There  is  far  too  much  fear  of  imperfect 


ISLAM  AND  CHRISTIANITY  IN  INDIA  81 


Christianity  in  the  whole  missionary  organization. 
Christianity  is  always  imperfect  in  its  beginnings. 
The  majority  of  Christians  in  Constantine’s  time 
would  have  seemed  to  modern  missionaries  mere 
worldlings  ; the  converted  Saxons  were  for  centuries 
violent  brutes  ; and  the  mass  of  Christians  through- 
out the  world  are  even  now  no  better  than  indif- 
ferents.  None  the  less  is  it  true  that  the  race  which 
embraces  Christianity,  even  nominally,  rises  with 
a bound  out  of  its  former  position,  and  contains  in 
itself  thenceforward  the  seed  of  a nobler  and  more 
lasting  life.  Christianity  in  a new  people  must 
develop  civilization  for  itself,  not  be  smothered  by 
it,  still  less  be  exhausted  in  the  impossible  effort 
to  accrete  to  itself  a civilization  from  the  outside. 
Natives  of  India  when  they  are  Christians  will  be 
and  ought  to  be  Asiatics  still — that  is,  as  unlike 
English  rectors  or  English  Dissenting  ministers  as 
it  is  possible  for  men  of  the  same  creed  to  be, 
and  the  effort  to  squeeze  them  into  those  moulds 
not  only  wastes  power,  but  destroys  the  vitality  of 
the  original  material.  Mahommedan  proselytism 
succeeds  in  India  because  it  leaves  its  converts 
Asiatics  still ; Christian  proselytism  fails  in  India 
because  it  strives  to  make  of  its  converts  English 
middle-class  men.  That  is  the  truth  in  a nutshell, 
whether  we  choose  to  accept  it  or  not. 


G 


Will  England  Retain  India  ? 


THE  English  think  they  will  rule  India  for 
many  centuries  or  for  ever.  I do  not  think 
so,  holding  rather  the  older  belief  that  the  Empire 
which  came  in  a day  will  disappear  in  a night ; 
and  it  may  interest  some  to  consider  for  a moment 
the  pessimist  view  as  stated  by  one  who  heartily 
believes  that  the  British  dominion  over  the  great 
peninsula  of  Asia  is  a benefit  to  mankind. 

It  is  customary  with  Englishmen,  and  especially 
with  Englishmen  who  have  seen  India,  to  speak  of 
the  British  domination  there  as  “a  miracle,”  but 
they  seldom  realize  fully  the  import  of  their  words. 
The  Indian  Empire  is  not  a miracle  in  the  rhetori- 
cian’s sense,  but  in  the  theologian’s  sense.  It  is  a 
thing  which  exists  and  is  alive,  but  cannot  be 
accounted  for  by  any  process  of  reasoning  founded 
on  experience.  It  is  a miracle  as  a floating  island 
of  granite  would  be  a miracle,  or  a bird  of  brass 
which  flew  and  sung  and  lived  on  in  mid-air.  It  is 
a structure  built  on  nothing,  without  foundations, 
without  buttresses,  held  in  its  place  by  some  force 

the  origin  of  which  is  undiscoverable  and  the  nature 

82 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETALN  LNDLA  t 


83 


of  which  has  never  been  explained.  For  eighty 
years  at  least  writers  by  the  score  have  endeavoured 
to  bring  home  to  Englishmen  the  vastness  of  India, 
but,  so  far  as  can  be  perceived,  they  have  all  failed. 
The  Briton  reads  what  they  say,  learns  up  their 
figures,  tries  to  understand  their  descriptions,  but 
fails,  for  all  his  labour,  to  realize  what  India  is — a 
continent  large  as  Europe  west  of  the  Vistula,  and 
with  30,000,000  more  people,  fuller  of  ancient 
nations,  of  great  cities,  of  varieties  of  civilization, 
of  armies,  nobilities,  priesthoods,  organizations  for 
every  conceivable  purpose  from  the  spreading  of 
great  religions  down  to  systematic  murder.  There 
are  twice  as  many  Bengalees  as  there  are  French- 
men ; the  Hindostanees  properly  so  called  outnum- 
ber the  whites  in  the  United  States;  the  Mahrattas 
would  fill  Spain,  the  people  of  the  Punjab  with 
Scinde  are  double  the  population  of  Turkey,  and  I 
have  named  but  four  of  the  more  salient  divisions. 
Everything  is  on  the  same  bewildering  scale.  The 
fighting  peoples  of  India,  whose  males  are  as  big  as 
ourselves,  as  brave  as  ourselves,  and  more  regard- 
less of  death  than  ourselves,  number  at  least  a 
hundred  and  twenty  millions,  equal  to  Gibbon’s 
calculation  of  the  population  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
There  are  four  hundred  thousand  trained  brown 
soldiers  in  native  service,  of  whom  we  hear  perhaps 
once  in  ten  years,  and  at  least  two  millions  of  men 
who  think  their  proper  profession  is  arms,  who 
would  live  by  arms  if  they  could,  and  of  whom  we 


84 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


in  England  never  hear  a word.  If  the  Prussian 
conscription  were  applied  in  India,  we  should,  with- 
out counting  reserves  or  Landwehr  or  any  force  not 
summoned  in  time  of  peace,  have  two  and  a half 
millions  of  soldiers  actually  in  barracks,  with  800,000 
recruits  coming  up  every  year — a force  with  which, 
not  only  Asia,  but  the  world,  might  be  subdued. 
There  are  tens  of  millions  of  prosperous  peasants 
whose  hoardings  make  of  India  the  grand  absorbent 
of  the  precious  metals ; tens  of  millions  of  peasants 
beside  whose  poverty  Fellahs  or  Sicilians  or  Con- 
naught men  are  rich  ; millions  of  artisans,  ranging 
from  the  men  who  build  palaces  to  the  men  who, 
nearly  naked  and  almost  without  tools,  do  the 
humblest  work  of  the  potter.  Every  occupation 
which  exists  in  Europe  exists  also  in  India.  The 
industry  of  the  vast  continent  never  ceases,  for 
India,  with  all  her  teeming  multitudes,  with  a popu- 
lation in  places  packed  beyond  European  precedent, 
imports  nothing  either  to  eat  or  drink,  and,  but  for 
the  Europeans,  would  import  nothing  whatever. 
She  is  sufficient  to  herself  for  everything  save  silver. 
Amidst  these  varied  masses,  these  two  hundred  and 
fifty  millions,  whose  mere  descriptions  would  fill 
volumes,  the  tide  of  life  flows  as  vigorously  as  in 
Europe.  There  is  as  much  labour,  as  much  con- 
tention, as  much  ambition,  as  much  crime,  as  much 
variety  of  careers,  hopes,  fears,  and  hatreds.  It  is 
still  possible  to  a moneyless  Indian  to  become  Vizier 
of  a dynasty  older  than  history,  or  Finance  Minister 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA  ? 85 


of  a new  prince  whose  personal  fortune  in  hard  cash 
is  double  that  of  the  late  Emperor  William,  or  abbot 
of  a monastery  richer  than  Glastonbury  ever  was, 
owner  of  an  estate  that  covers  a county,  head  of  a 
firm  whose  transactions  may  vie  with  those  of  the 
Barings  or  Bleichroders.  One  man,  Jutee  Pershad 
by  name,  fed  and  transported  the  army  which  con- 
quered the  Punjab. 

I have  failed  like  the  rest,  I see.  Well,  see  for 
a moment  in  imagination  a Europe  even  fuller  of 
people,  but  full  only  of  brown  men,  and  then  see 
also  this.  Above  this  inconceivable  mass  of  human- 
ity, governing  all,  protecting  all,  taxing  all,  rises 
what  we  call  here  “ the  Empire,”  a corporation  of 
less  than  fifteen  hundred  men,  part  chosen  by 
examination,  part  by  co-optation,  who  are  set  to 
govern,  and  who  protect  themselves  in  governing 
by  finding  pay  for  a minute  white  garrison  of  65,000 
men,  one-fifth  of  the  Roman  legions — though  the 
masses  to  be  controlled  are  double  the  subjects  of 
Rome — less  than  the  army  of  Sweden,  or  Belgium, 
or  Holland.  That  corporation  and  that  garrison 
constitute  the  “ Indian  Empire.”  There  is  nothing 
else.  Banish  those  fifteen  hundred  men  in  black, 
defeat  that  slender  garrison  in  red,  and  the  Empire 
has  ended,  the  structure  disappears,  and  brown 
India  emerges  unchanged  and  unchangeable.  To 
support  the  official  world  and  its  garrison — both, 
recollect,  smaller  than  those  of  Belgium — there  is, 
except  Indian  opinion,  absolutely  nothing.  Not  only 


86 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


is  there  no  white  race  in  India,  not  only  is  there  no 
white  colony,  but  there  is  no  white  man  who  pur- 
poses to  remain.  Lord  Dufferin,  whom  in  1888  we 
scarcely  thought  of  as  middle-aged,  was  possibly  the 
oldest,  certainly  among  the  oldest,  of  white  men  in 
India.  No  ruler  stays  there  to  help,  or  criticize,  or 
moderate  his  successor.  No  successful  white  soldier 
founds  a family.  No  white  man  who  makes  a 
fortune  builds  a house  or  buys  an  estate  for  his 
descendants.  The  very  planter,  the  very  engine- 
driver,  the  very  foreman  of  works,  departs  before  he 
is  sixty,  leaving  no  child,  or  house,  or  trace  of 
himself  behind.  No  white  man  takes  root  in  India, 
and  the  number  even  of  sojourners  is  among  those 
masses  imperceptible.  The  whites  in  our  own 
three  capitals  could  hardly  garrison  them,  and  out- 
side those  capitals  there  are,  except  in  Government 
employ,  only  a few  planters,  traders,  and  profes- 
sional men,  far  fewer  than  the  black  men  in  London. 
In  a city  like  Benares,  a stone  city  whose  buildings 
rival  those  of  Venice,  a city  of  temples  and  palaces 
beautiful  enough  and  original  enough  to  be  a world’s 
wonder,  yet  in  which  no  white  man’s  brain  or  hand 
has  designed  or  executed  anything,  a traveller  might 
live  a year  talking  only  with  the  learned  or  the 
rich,  and,  unless  he  had  official  business  to  do, 
might  never  see  a white  face.  And  away  from  the 
“ stations  ” planted  outside  the  native  cities  it  is  so 
everywhere.  There  are  no  white  servants,  not  even 
grooms,  no  white  policemen,  no  white  postmen,  no 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA  ? 


87 


white  anything.  If  the  brown  men  struck  for  a 
week,  the  “ Empire”  would  collapse  like  a house  of 
cards,  and  every  ruling  man  would  be  a starving 
prisoner  in  his  own  house.  He  could  not  move  or 
feed  himself  or  get  water.  I shall  not  soon  forget 
the  observation  of  one  of  the  keenest  and  most 
experienced  of  all  observers  who  arrived  in  India 
during  the  Mutiny.  He  had  just  landed,  and  had 
consented  to  drive  with  me  to  a house  sixteen  miles 
out  of  Calcutta.  On  the  road,  as  usual,  he  noted 
everything,  but  at  last  turned  to  me  with  the  ques- 
tion, “Where,  then,  are  the  white  men?”  “No- 
where,” was  the  only  possible  reply ; and  it  is  true 
of  the  entire  continent.  This  absence  of  white  men 
is  said  to  be  due  to  climate,  but  even  in  “ the 
Hills  ” no  one  settles.  Englishmen  live  on  the 
sultry  plains  of  New  South  Wales;  Americans,  who 
are  only  Englishmen  a little  desiccated,  are  filling 
up  the  steamy  plains  of  Florida  ; Spaniards  have 
settled  as  a governing  caste  throughout  the  tropical 
sections  of  the  two  Americas  ; Dutchmen  dwell  on 
in  Java;  but  the  English,  whatever  the  temptation, 
will  not  stay  in  India.  No  matter  what  the  sacri- 
fice, whether  in  money  or  dignity  or  pleasant  occu- 
pation, an  uncontrollable  disgust,  an  overpowering 
sense  of  being  aliens  inexorably  divided  from  the 
people  of  the  land,  comes  upon  them,  and  they  glide 
silently  away.  It  follows  that  even  in  the  minute 
official  world  and  the  minute  garrison  nothing  is 
permanent.  The  Viceroy  rules  for  five  years,  and 


88 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


departs.  The  Councillor  advises  for  five  years,  and 
departs.  The  General  commands  for  five  years, 
and  departs.  The  Official  serves  thirty  years, 
probably  in  ten  separate  counties,  and  departs. 
There  is  not  in  India  one  ruling  man  whom  two 
generations  of  Indians  have  known  as  ruling  man. 
Of  all  that  in  Europe  comes  of  continuousness, 
heredity,  accumulated  personal  experience,  or  the 
wisdom  of  old  age,  there  is  in  India  not  one  trace, 
nor  can  there  ever  be.  Imagine  if  in  Europe  no 
Sovereign  or  Premier  or  Commander-in-Chief  ever 
lived  six  years  ! Yet  these  men,  thus  shifting,  thus 
changing,  do  the  whole  work  of  legislating,  govern- 
ing, and  administering,  all  that  is  done  in  the  whole 
of  Europe  by  all  the  sovereigns,  all  the  statesmen, 
all  the  Parliaments,  all  the  judges,  revenue  boards, 
prefects,  magistrates,  tax  gatherers  and  police  officers. 
They  are  “ the  Empire,”  and  there  is  no  other. 

Nor  is  this  the  whole  truth.  The  Imperial 
Service — I use  the  expression  recommended  by  the 
Civil  Service  Commissioners,  because  it  covers  both 
the  civilians  and  the  administering  soldiers — have 
displayed  for  a century  a rigid  respect  for  promises 
and  perfect  pecuniary  honour.  Consequently,  aided 
by  the  rooted  Indian  idea,  that,  power  being  of  God, 
any  one,  however  hostile,  may  honourably  serve  a 
de  facto  ruler,  they  have  always  been  able  to  hire 
Indian  agents  of  all  kinds — soldiers,  policemen,  and 
minor  officials — in  any  numbers  required.  That 
power,  however,  gives  them  no  foothold.  As  1857 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA  ? 


89 


showed,  they  have  not  secured  even  the  loyalty  of 
the  Indian  soldiers  bound  to  them  by  oath  and 
while  actually  in  the  service,  and  outside  the  ranks 
of  their  paid  servants  they  have  nothing  to  depend 
on.  There  is  no  nation  or  tribe  or  caste  in  India 
which  is  certain  in  the  hour  of  trial  to  stand  by  the 
white  man’s  side  ; which  has,  so  to  speak,  elected 
him  as  ruler ; which,  were  the  garrison  defeated  or 
withdrawn,  could  be  trusted  to  die  rather  than  the 
Empire  should  fall.  There  is  no  native  army  that 
the  Imperial  Service — which  is,  I repeat,  the  Empire 
— could  summon  with  confidence ; no  tribe  whom 
they  could  arm  en  masse ; no  native  city  whose 
inhabitants  would  risk  a storm  to  protect  them  from 
beine  slain.  A strange  offer  which  as  I believe  was 
once  made  to  Lord  Canning  by  the  Sikhs  to  become 
on  certain  conditions  the  Janissaries  of  the  Empire 
was  rejected ; a constantly  repeated  proposal  to 
import  a Negro  army  which  would  be  in  as  much 
danger  from  insurrection  as  we  are,  has  been — very 
rightly,  for  moral  reasons — put  aside  ; the  device, 
in  which  Sir  Henry  Maine  said  he  believed,  of 
creating  a caste  whose  single  caste  rule  should  be 
obedience  to  the  Queen  has  never  been  tried  ; and 
the  Empire  hangs  in  air,  supported  by  nothing  but 
the  minute  white  garrison  and  the  unproved  assump- 
tion that  the  people  of  India  desire  it  to  continue  to 
exist.  The  remainder  of  this  article  will  be  devoted 
to  the  question  whether  that  assumption  has  any 
foundation  in  fact. 


90 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


It  is  certainly  notin  accordance  with  a priori  pro- 
babilities. It  may  be  said  broadly  that  no  people, 
Asiatic  or  European,  which  recognizes  its  own 
separateness  is  ever  content  to  be  governed  by 
foreigners  even  if  they  are  of  its  race,  creed,  and 
kind  of  civilization.  The  Italians  could  not  endure 
the  Austrians,  the  Poles  cannot  tolerate  the  Russians, 
the  very  Alsatians  cannot  bear  the  rule  of  their 
German  brothers.  The  feeling  may  be  supposed 
to  be  born  of  the  love  of  freedom  which  is  the 
speciality  of  white  men,  but  I know  of  no  Asiatic 
people  except  the  Bengalee  which  has  ever  sub- 
mitted to  the  stranger  without  a strenuous  resist- 
ance. The  Chinese  fought  the  Tartars,  the  Persians 
struggled  to  the  death  with  the  Arabs,  the  Indians 
fought,  and  in  many  cases  defeated,  the  Mongol 
invaders.  Yet  in  these  cases  conquerors  and  con- 
quered were  all  alike  Asiatics,  and  Asiatics  have  a 
comity  of  their  own,  and  comprehend  one  another. 
Englishmen  and  Indians  are  divided  by  a far  deeper 
chasm,  by  all  that  vast  body  of  inherited  proclivities, 
ideas  of  life,  and  social  habits  which  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  sum  up  in  the  one  word  “ colour.” 

For  more  than  a century  past  two  powerful  influ- 
ences have  been  at  work  with  Englishmen  com- 
pelling them  to  make  little  of  the  distinctions 
included  in  this  word.  After  seventeen  centuries 
of  comparative  neglect,  the  humanitarian  side  of 
Christianity  has  come  with  a sort  of  rush  to  the 
front,  and  divines  have  felt  impelled  to  preach,  not 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA  ? 


9i 


that  Christianity  is  intended  for  all,  but  that  in 
Christianity  all  are  equal,  that  men  are  brothers, 
that  it  is  almost  sinful  to  speak  of  any  distinctions 
except  those  of  faith  and  morals.  “ There  is  no 
colour,”  is  the  universal  doctrine,  “ before  the  Lord,” 
and  from  this  it  is  deduced  that  there  is  no  colour 
at  all — that  the  differences  included  in  the  word  are 
mere  charges  brought  by  the  prejudiced  and  the 
proud  to  cover  profitable  injustice.  Democracy  has 
taken  the  same  turn.  It  has  based  itself,  not  upon 
common  citizenship,  or  contract,  or  the  right  of  free 
men  to  govern  themselves,  but  upon  some  ante- 
cedent claim  inherent  in  humanity,  and  its  teachers 
are  therefore  bound  to  say  that  colour  is  meaning- 
less, that  all  would  be  alike  but  for  oppression,  and 
that  all  have  equally  the  capacities  necessary  for 
self-government.  The  effect  of  the  twofold  pressure 
exercised  for  many  years,  and  now  pervading  all 
teaching  and  all  literature,  has  been  to  make  English- 
men forget  some  of  the  plainest  facts  of  history. 
What  colour  may  be  I do  not  pretend  to  know,  and 
neither  physicists  nor  theologians  will  tell  us ; 1 but 

1 The  physicists  tell  us  little  worth  knowing  about  colour. 
They  talk  about  pigments,  but  do  not  say  whence  they  come,  or 
why  the  Australasian  of  Tasmania,  living  in  a climate  like  that  of 
England,  was  black,  while  the  Spaniard  living  on  the  Equator  has 
for  three  centuries  remained  white.  What,  too,  is  the  law  of 
the  transmission  of  colour  ? People  fancy  that  the  child  of  one 
white  and  one  dark  parent  is  less  white  than  the  one  and  less 
dark  than  the  other,  but  it  is  not  always  so.  Most  of  the  half- 
caste  descendants  of  Portuguese  in  India  are  black,  not  brown, 
and  so,  I am  told,  are  the  descendants  of  Spaniards  by  women  of 


92 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


it  is  past  question  that  it  is  an  indication  of  differ- 
ences physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  of  the  most 
radical  and  imperishable  kind.  Throughout  the 
history  of  mankind,  black  men,  brown  men,  and 
white  men  have  been  divided  from  each  other  by 
lines  which  have  never  been  passed,  and  by  dif- 
ferences apparently  wholly  independent  of  their  own 
volition.  None  of  the  black  races,  for  instance, 
whether  Negro  or  Australasian,  have  shown  within 
the  historic  time  the  capacity  to  develop  civilization. 
They  have  never  passed  the  boundaries  of  their 
own  habitats  as  conquerors,  and  never  exercised  the 
smallest  influences  over  peoples  not  black.  They 
have  never  founded  a stone  city,  have  never  built 
a ship,  have  never  produced  a literature,  have  never 
suggested  a creed.  If  they  all  perished  to-morrow 
the  world  would  be  the  richer  by  the  whole  resources 
of  Africa — probably  the  richest  division  of  the  globe 
— which  would  then  for  the  first  time  be  utilized. 
They  have  been  the  most  seh-governed  of  man- 
kind ; they  hold  some  of  the  world’s  most  fertile 
lands  ; they  sit  on  some  of  its  most  magnificent 
rivers — everything  the  Egyptians  on  the  Nile  had, 
the  Negro  on  the  Quorra  or  the  Congo  also  had — • 
and  they  have  never  advanced  out  of  the  foulest 
savagery.  There  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  if 

the  Philippine  Islands.  How  does  that  happen?  The  subject 
deserves  investigation,  for,  if  a white  race  intermixing  with  a 
brown  race  can  produce  a black  one,  many  theories  of  the  descent 
of  man  may  require  modification. 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA  ? 


93 


Africa  were  left  to  itself  for  ten  thousand  years  it 
would  progress  in  the  smallest  degree  ; and  this 
evidence  against  it,  that,  when  liberated  from  the 
pressure  of  the  white  man’s  brain,  the  Negro,  as  in 
Hayti  and,  I fear,  Liberia,  rapidly  recedes.  Black- 
ness of  skin  may  not  be — indeed,  cannot  be — the 
cause  of  this  stagnation  or  imbecility  — for  it  is 
imbecility  ; but  blackness  of  skin  is  the  most  visible 
evidence  of  the  aggregate  of  incapacities  manifested 
throughout  the  history  of  the  black  race.  The 
white  man,  therefore,  though  he  has  no  right  to  say 
that  the  black  man  cannot  be  saved,  God  caring  as 
much  for  the  worm  as  for  the  fly,  has  a right  to  say 
that  the  black  man  will  never  civilize  himself.  So 
also  he  has  a right  to  say  certain  things,  though 
very  different  things,  about  the  brown  man.  The 
brown  man  of  every  shade 1 who  now  monopolizes 

1 The  Jews  are  the  nearest  white  of  any  Asiatics,  but  no  ex- 
perienced eye  can  look  closely  at  them  without  perceiving  that, 
like  all  other  Arabs,  they  have  suffered  at  some  period  a cross 
of  dark  blood.  They  have,  however,  had  an  experience  which 
differentiates  them  mentally  and  physically  from  all  other  Asiatics. 
They  have  given  up  polygamy  and  slavery  for  centuries,  and  in 
their  persecution  of  seventeen  hundred  years  they  have  been 
condemned  to  live  in  quarters  so  unhealthy  or  in  climates  so 
unsuited  to  them — imagine  a Jew  in  Russia  ! — that  the  weak  and 
incompetent  have  been  persistently  killed  out.  The  life  of  the 
Jew  is  now  as  long  as  that  of  the  European,  and,  though  he  rarely 
takes  to  what  we  call  “ exercise,”  he  is  probably  of  all  the  world 
the  man  least  liable  to  any  of  the  forms  of  miasmatic  disease.  He 
is,  too,  as  a rule,  remarkably  free  from  the  habit  of  over-drinking, 
which,  though  it  does  not  seem  to  have  affected  either  Scandi- 
navians, or  Romans,  or  Teutons,  acts  like  a poison  upon  Asiatics. 


94 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Asia — that  is,  a third  of  the  total  area  of  habitable 
land  upon  the  planet — is  probably  a half-caste,  the 
result  of  a long  series  of  early  crossings  between  the 
dark  and  unimprovable  aborigines,  of  whom  a few 
relics  still  survive,  and  the  white  man.  We  know 
this  to  have  been  the  case  in  India,  and  further 
research  will,  I believe,  prove  it  to  have  been  the 
case  throughout  Asia,  even  with  the  Mongolian 
tribes,  the  crossed  races  everywhere  deriving  from 
their  trace  of  white  blood  the  special  faculty  of  the 
white  man  — that  of  accumulating  experience  to 
practical  purpose.1  The  brown  races  obtain  this 
faculty  in  part  only,  but  in  such  a degree  that  they 
for  a time  advance,  and  have  done  some  very  great 
things.  The  brown  man  has  founded  and  held 
together  the  largest  and  most  permanent  of  human 
societies.  He  has  built  splendid  and  original  cities 
— Benares,  for  example,  Damascus,  and  old  Granada 
— without  the  white  man’s  help.  He  has  perfected 
a system  of  agriculture  which,  though  Europe  may 
think  it  barbarous,  maintains  in  plenty,  acre  for  acre, 
more  people  than  any  European  system,  and  which 
survives  in  its  integrity  close  intercourse  with  the 
agriculture  of  Europe.  He  invented  letters,  arith- 
metic, and  chess.  He  has  carried  many  arts — ■ 
architecture,  for  example,  pottery  in  all  its  branches, 
weaving,  and  working  in  metals — to  a high  degree 

1 This  was  written  before  I had  seen  the  work  of  the  French 
ethnologist,  the  Comte  de  Gobineau,  who  has  explained  and 
justified  the  view  in  detail. 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA? 


95 


of  perfection.  He  has  solved  the  problem  of  recon- 
ciling the  mass  of  mankind  to  their  hard  destiny,  so 
that  in  Asia  it  is  rarely  the  millions  who  rebel,  and 
that  famine,  flood,  and  hurricane  produce  no  political 
discontent.  He  has  produced  great  conquerors — 
though  exclusively  by  land — great  lawgivers,  and 
great  poets.  Above  all,  he  has  meditated  so  stren- 
uously and  so  well  on  the  eternal  problem  of  the 
whence  and  whither  that  every  creed  as  yet  accepted 
by  man,  except  possibly  fetishism,  is  Asiatic,  and 
has  been  preached  first  of  all  by  a brown  man.  On 
the  other  hand,  with  these  great  gifts  the  brown 
man  has  also  great  incapacities.  The  power  of 
accumulating  thought,  which  he  derives  from  his 
trace  of  white  blood,  is  easily  and  early  exhausted, 
and  when  it  is  exhausted  his  progress  is  finally 
arrested  ; he  stereotypes  his  society,  and  his  brain 
seems  paralysed  by  self-conceit.  For  three  thousand 
years  he  has  made  no  new  conquest  over  Nature, 
carried  science  no  higher,  developed  no  new  and 
fructifying  social  idea,  invented  no  new  scheme  of 
life.  The  Arab,  the  Indian,  the  Chinese,  is  pre- 
cisely what  he  was  when  the  white  man  first  became 
conscious  of  his  existence.  He  has  never  risen 
above  polygamy  as  an  ideal,  never,  even  in  countries 
partly  monogamous,  forbidding,  or  trying  to  forbid, 
the  harem  as  a luxury  to  the  rich  and  powerful.  In 
other  words,  he  has  never  conceived  of  woman  except 
as  the  pleasantest  and  most  necessary  of  slaves. 
He  has  never  either  developed  the  idea  of  pity.  He 


y6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


is  not,  I think,  cruel  as  his  cousin  the  red  man  of 
America  is — that  is,  he  takes  no  pleasure  in  inflict- 
ing pain,  but  he  is  utterly  callous  to  its  infliction. 
It  does  not  move  him  that  another  suffers  extremi- 
ties of  torture,  and,  if  a point  is  to  be  gained,  he  will 
make  him  suffer  them  without  sympathy  or  remorse. 
Whether,  as  in  China,  he  cuts  a prisoner  into 
snippets,  or,  as  in  Persia,  he  bricks  up  a footpad  in 
a wall,  leaving  the  head  uncovered  and  living  for 
days,  or,  as  in  India,  burns  delicate  ladies  alive  on 
their  husbands’  pyres,  he  is  equally  unaffected.  Of 
the  death  of  the  suttee  the  Indian  thought,  perhaps, 
something,  for  he  has  a reverence,  in  theory,  for  life, 
but  of  her  agony  he  never  thought  at  all.  He  would 
not  burn  a city  to  warm  his  hands,  but  he  would  not 
in  the  least  hate  the  man  who  did.  The  substantial 
difference,  said  a great  pundit  once  to  me,  “ between 
the  English  and  us  is  not  intellectual  at  all.  We 
are  the  brighter,  if  anything  ; but  you  have  pity 
[ doya ],  and  we  have  not ! ” Above  all,  he  has  never 
developed  the  idea  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  freedom 
— the  idea  of  right  inherent  in  the  quality  of  human 
being.  He  has  everywhere  framed  his  social  system 
on  the  theory  that  power  cannot  be  limited  or 
restrained  except  by  religion.  Not  only  has  he  never 
thought  of  representative  government,  which  even 
with  the  white  man  was  a late  discovery,  and,  so  to 
speak,  a scientific  one,  but  he  has  never  thought  of 
government  at  all  except  as  an  imitation  of  govern- 
ment by  Heaven  or  by  the  Destinies.  He  has  from 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA  ? 


97 


the  days  of  Saul,  and  earlier,  preferred  that  his  ruler 
should  be  absolute,  and  there  is  not,  and  never  has 
been,  a brown  community  in  which  the  ruler  had  not 
the  right  to  inflict  death  on  a private  person  at  his 
discretion.  This  has  not  been  a result  of  accident 
or  of  race  oppression.  Many  of  the  brown  races 
have  been  self-governed  for  ages,  and  all  have 
enjoyed  periods  in  which  they  could  have  set  up  any 
government  they  would.  The  Emperor  of  Delhi 
had  only  Indian  agents ; the  Shah  of  Persia  is 
surrounded  only  by  Persians  ; the  Emperor  of  China 
does  not  call  in  Tartar  troops  to  defend  his  throne. 
Either  of  them,  if  they  gave  offence  to  certain  pre- 
judices, would  be  overthrown,  but  they  are  not  over- 
thrown for  despotism,  and  the  reason  is  that  their 
subjects  like  it,  that  it  strikes  and  soothes  their 
imaginations,  that  they  think  autocracy,  wielded  by 
an  individual  who  can  fit  his  decision  to  each  indi- 
vidual case,  the  perfection  of  beneficial  energy  and 
a reflex  of  the  government  of  the  Most  High.  Un- 
less the  law  is  Divine  they  dislike  law  as  an  instru- 
ment of  government,  and  prefer  a flexible  and 
movable  human  will,  which  can  be  turned  by 
prayers,  threats,  or  conciliations  in  money. 

The  chasm  between  the  brown  man  and  the  white 
is  unfathomable,  has  existed  in  all  ages,  and  exists 
still  everywhere.  No  white  man  marries  a brown 
wife,  no  brown  man  marries  a white  wife,  without 
an  inner  sense  of  having  been  false  to  some  unin- 
telligible but  irresistible  command.  There  is  no 

H 


98 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


corner  of  Asia  where  the  life  of  a white  man,  if 
unprotected  by  force,  either  actual  or  potential,  is 
safe  for  an  hour;  nor  is  there  an  Asiatic  State 
which,  if  it  were  prudent,  would  not  expel  him  at 
once  and  for  ever.  There  is  therefore  no  a priori 
reason  for  thinking  that  the  myriads  of  brown  men 
in  India,  most  of  them  very  intelligent  and  brave, 
would  of  themselves  prefer  to  be  governed  by  white 
men.  If  they  do  it  is  an  anomaly,  a break  in  a 
universal  experience,  only  to  be  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  the  white  man  in  that  particular  corner 
of  the  world  gives  something  so  pleasant  to  the 
brown  man  that  it  overcomes  his  instinctive  anti- 
pathy and  love  of  his  own  ways.  Now,  does  the 
white  man  give  anything  to  India  which  can  be 
credited  with  producing  this  extraordinary  effect  ? 
The  Englishman  says  he  does,  and  he  has  at  first 
sight  some  imposing  evidence  to  produce.  The 
Imperial  Service — which,  I repeat  once  more,  is  the 
Empire — enforces,  in  the  first  place,  the  Pax  Bri- 
tannica,  the  universal  peace,  beneath  which  India 
sleeps,  and  the  benefit  of  which,  from  the  European 
point  of  view,  it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate.  Not 
only  does  it  prevent  invasion,  but  private  war  and 
armed  violence  of  every  kind.  On  this  point  there 
is  in  the  mind  of  the  Imperial  Service  no  doubt,  no 
halfness,  no  hesitation.  The  prince  shall  not  invade 
his  neighbour,  under  penalty  of  instant  dethrone- 
ment. The  baron  shall  not  attack  his  brother 
baron,  under  penalty  of  lifelong  imprisonment.  The 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA  ? 


99 


Thug,  the  dacoit,  the  burglar,  the  highwayman,  if 
they  take  life,  shall  die,  or,  if  they  just  stop  short  of 
murder,  shall  labour  for  long  periods  in  chains. 
This  is  not  merely  a theory ; it  is  carried  out  in 
daily  life.  The  humblest  man  in  India  has,  if  his 
relative  is  killed,  the  full  aid  of  the  Imperial  Service, 
which  would  wage  ten  wars  rather  than  suffer  a 
murderer  to  escape.  The  proudest  noble  knows 
that,  if  his  retainers  kill  by  his  order,  he  is  as  liable 
to  trial  as  the  meanest  felon.  The  strongest  prince, 
if  he  moves  a regiment  outside  his  own  boundary, 
is  certain  that  within  six  weeks  he  will  be  either  a 
prisoner  or  a fugitive.  A war  waged  for  two  gene- 
rations with  the  murderous  organizations,  of  which 
there  were  once  nearly  thirty — the  Thugs  being 
only  the  best  known — has  nearly  extirpated  them, 
and  dacoity,  as  a system,  has  receded  into  the  past. 
Murders  occur,  and  highway  robberies,  and  of 
course  all  varieties  of  crime  commissible  by  indi- 
viduals, but,  speaking  broadly,  life  and  property  are 
as  safe  among  that  vast  concourse  of  men  as  in 
Europe — a change  as  great  as  if  in  the  Middle  Ages 
the  Truce  of  God  had  suddenly  been  made  uni- 
versal, permanent  and  effective.  The  gain  in  the 
reduction  of  human  misery  from  this  one  fact  is 
almost  inconceivable.  Moreover,  civil  justice,  which 
can  hardly  be  said  to  have  existed  under  the  Mogul 
domination,  is  secured  in  a certain  way  to  all  men. 
It  is  very  expensive,  rather  uncertain,  and  madden- 
ingly slow,  owing  to  a system  of  appeals  intended 


IOO 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


to  make  its  administration  more  perfect ; but  still  it 
is  offered  to  the  meanest  equally  with  the  highest, 
and  through  courts  in  which  wilful  injustice  or  bribe- 
taking may  fairly  be  said  to  be  unknown.  Lastly, 
fiscal  injustice,  the  original  source  of  almost  all 
oppression  in  Asia,  has  been  swept  away.  The 
taxes  may  be  too  heavy — their  weight  varies  in 
reality  in  every  province — or  they  may  be  badly 
chosen,  but  the  Treasury  claims  and  takes  nothing 
but  its  legal  due  ; no  tax  is  farmed  out,  and,  if  a 
subordinate  collector  takes  too  much,  the  white 
collector  knows  no  higher  pleasure  than  to  make  of 
him  a speedy  and  severe  example.  These  are  all, 
as  Europe  thinks,  grand  gifts,  and  the  Imperial 
Service  has  given  them — that  is,  has  performed  a 
task  which,  the  area  being  considered,  is  equal  to 
any  ever  performed  by  Rome — without  the  smallest 
infringement  of  individual  liberty.  There  are  abso- 
lutely no  regulations  of  preventive  police  in  India 
except  one,  a statute  authorizing  the  detention  of 
highly  dangerous  persons  as  State  prisoners,  a 
statute  of  which  ninety  per  cent.,  even  of  the  upper 
classes,  have  no  knowledge.  Every  Indian  is  at 
liberty,  within  the  law,  to  say  or  do  what  he  pleases, 
to  form  any  associations  he  likes,  to  rise  to  any 
position  not  connected  with  the  Government,  to 
accumulate  any  fortune,  and  to  live  any  life,  holy  or 
vicious,  that  to  him  seems  best.  Religious  liberty 
is  even  more  perfect  than  in  England  or  Switzer- 
land, for  the  great  European  restriction,  that  a 


WILL  ENGLAND  EE  TAIN  INDIA? 


IOI 


religion  must  not  sap  morals,  does  not  exist,  and 
the  foulest  sects  are  left  to  the  punishment  of 
opinion.  So  jealous  is  the  Service  of  any  interfer- 
ence with  religion  that,  when  Lord  Dalhousie  passed 
an  Act  intended  to  repress  obscenity,  a special 
clause  in  it  exempted  all  temples  and  religious 
emblems  from  its  operation. 

Personal  liberty,  religious  liberty,  equal  justice, 
perfect  security — these  things  the  Empire  gives ; 
but,  then,  are  these  so  valued  as  to  overcome  the 
inherent  and  incurable  dull  distaste  felt  by  the  brown 
men  to  the  white  men  who  give  them  ? I doubt  it 
greatly.  The  immense  mass  of  the  peasantry,  who 
benefit  most  directly  by  the  British  ways  of  ruling, 
are,  it  must  be  remembered,  an  inert  mass.  They 
are  the  stakes  in  the  game,  not  the  players.  It  is 
for  the  right  of  taxing  them  that  all  Indian  revolu- 
tions, wars,  invasions,  movements  of  all  kinds,  have 
occurred.  Lost  in  the  peaceful  monotony  of  their 
village  life,  which,  unless  all  evidence  from  history 
is  worthless,  they  must  heartily  love,  they  hardly 
notice  dynastic  changes,  and  will  accept  any  ruler  if 
only  he  leaves  their  customs  alone,  and  takes  no 
more  of  their  produce  than  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed from  time  immemorial  to  pay  as  tribute  to 
the  strong.  Even,  therefore,  if  they  approved  the 
British  Government,  their  approval  would  be  of  little 
political  value ; but  there  is  no  evidence  that  they 
do  approve  it.  If  they  are  transferred  to  a native 
ruler,  as  happened  in  Mysore  and  many  a smaller 


102 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


district,  they  make  no  remonstrance.  The  Sepoys, 
who  in  1857  sprang  so  eagerly  at  our  throats,  were 
all  peasants,  and  so  were  most  of  the  men  who  made 
up  Tantia  Topee’s  recruits.  They  are  known  to 
dislike  exceedingly  the  inexorableness  of  our  sys- 
tem, its  want  of  elasticity,  its  readiness  to  allow  of 
the  one  oppression — eviction — which  they  consider 
intolerable,  and  hold  to  be  more  than  an  equivalent 
to  their  exemption  from  sudden  demands  for  money. 
VVe  may,  however,  leave  them  for  the  moment  out 
of  the  question.  It  is  the  active  classes  who  have 
to  be  considered,  and  to  them  our  rule  is  not,  and 
cannot  be,  a rule  without  prodigious  drawbacks. 
One  of  these,  of  which  they  are  fully  conscious,  is 
the  gradual  decay  of  much  of  which  they  were 
proud,  the  slow  death,  which  even  the  Europeans 
perceive,  of  Indian  art,  Indian  culture,  Indian  mili- 
tary spirit.  Architecture,  engineering,  literary  skill, 
are  all  perishing  out,  so  perishing  that  Anglo- 
Indians  doubt  whether  Indians  have  the  capacity 
to  be  architects,  though  they  built  Benares ; or 
engineers,  though  they  dug  the  artificial  lakes  of 
Tanjore  ; or  poets,  though  the  people  sit  for  hours 
or  days  listening  to  the  rhapsodists  as  they  recite 
poems,  which  move  them  as  Tennyson  certainly 
does  not  move  our  common  people.  Another  is, 
that  the  price  of  what  they  think  imperfect  justice 
is  that  they  shall  never  right  themselves,  never 
enjoy  the  luxury  of  vengeance,  never  even  protect 
their  personal  dignity  and  honour,  about  which  they 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA  ? 


103 


are  as  sensitive  as  Prussian  officers.  They  may 
not  even  kill  their  wives  for  going  astray.  And  the 
last  and  greatest  one  of  all  is  the  total  loss  of  the 
interestingness  of  life. 

It  would  be  hard  to  explain  to  the  average 
Englishman  how  interesting  Indian  life  must  have 
been  before  our  advent ; how  completely  open  was 
every  career  to  the  bold,  the  enterprising,  or  the 
ambitious.  The  whole  continent  was  open  as  a 
prize  to  the  strong.  Nothing  was  settled  in  fact  or 
in  opinion  except  that  the  descendants  of  Timour 
the  Lame  were  entitled  to  any  kind  of  ascendency 
they  could  get  and  keep.  No  one  not  of  the  great 
Tartar’s  blood  pretended  to  the  universal  throne, 
but  with  that  exception  every  prize  was  open  to  any 
man  who  had  in  himself  the  needful  force.  Scores 
of  sub- thrones  were,  so  to  speak,  in  the  market.  A 
brigand,  for  Sivajee  was  no  better,  became  a mighty 
sovereign.  A herdsman  built  a monarchy  in  Baroda 
A body-servant  founded  the  dynasty  of  Scindiah. 
A corporal  cut  his  way  to  the  independent  crown  of 
Mysore.  The  first  Nizam  was  only  an  officer  of 
the  Emperor.  Runjeet  Singh’s  father  was  what 
Europeans  would  call  a prefect.  There  were  liter- 
ally hundreds  who  founded  principalities,  thousands 
of  their  potential  rivals,  thousands  more  who  suc- 
ceeded a little  less  grandly,  conquered  estates,  or 
became  high  officers  under  the  new  princes.  Each 
of  these  men  had  his  own  character  and  his  own 
renown  among  his  countrymen,  and  each  enjoyed  a 


104 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


position  such  as  is  now  unattainable  in  Europe,  in 
which  he  was  released  from  laws,  could  indulge  his 
own  fancies,  bad  or  good,  and  was  fed  every  day 
and  all  day  with  the  special  flattery  of  Asia — that 
willing  submissiveness  to  mere  volition  which  is  so 
like  adoration,  and  which  is  to  its  recipients  the 
most  intoxicating  of  delights.  Each,  too,  had  his 
court  of  followers,  and  every  courtier  shared  in  the 
power,  the  luxury,  and  the  adulation  accruing  to  his 
lord.  The  power  was  that  of  life  and  death  ; the 
luxury  included  possession  of  every  woman  he 
desired  ; the  adulation  was,  as  I have  said,  almost 
religious  worship.  Life  was  full  of  dramatic 
changes.  The  aspirant  who  pleased  a great  man 
rose  to  fortune  at  a bound.  The  adventurer  whose 
band  performed  an  act  of  daring  was  on  his  road  to 
be  a satrap.  Any  one  who  could  do  anything  for 
“ the  State” — that  is,  for  any  ruler — build  a temple, 
or  furnish  an  army  with  supplies,  or  dig  a tank,  or 
lend  gold  to  the  Court,  became  at  once  a great  man, 
honoured  of  all  classes,  practically  exempt  from  law, 
and  able  to  influence  the  great  current  of  affairs. 
Even  the  timid  had  their  chance,  and,  as  Finance 
Ministers,  farmers  of  taxes,  controllers  of  religious 
establishments,  found  for  themselves  great  places  in 
the  land.  For  all  this  which  we  have  extinguished 
we  offer  nothing  in  return,  nor  can  we  offer  any- 
thing. We  can  give  place,  and,  for  reasons  stated 
elsewhere,  it  will  be  greedily  accepted,  but  place  is 
not  power  under  our  system,  nor  can  we  give  what 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA?  105 

an  Asiatic  considers  power — the  right  to  make 
volition  executive ; the  right  to  crush  an  enemy 
and  reward  a friend  ; the  right,  above  all,  to  be  free 
from  that  burden  of  external  laws,  moral  duties,  and 
responsibilities  to  others  with  which  Europeans  have 
loaded  life.  We  cannot  even  let  a Viceroy  be  the 
ultimate  appellate  court,  and  right  any  legal  wrong 
by  supreme  fiat — a failure  which  seems  to  Indians, 
who  think  the  Sovereign  should  represent  God,  to 
impair  even  our  moral  claim  to  rule.  This  interest- 
ingness of  life  was  no  doubt  purchased  at  the  price 
of  much  danger  and  suffering.  The  Sovereign,  the 
favourite,  or  the  noble  could  cast  down  as  easily  as 
they  raised  up,  and  intrigue  against  the  successful 
never  ended.  The  land  was  full  of  violence. 
Private  war  was  universal.  The  great  protected 
themselves  against  assassination  as  vigilantly  as  the 
Russian  Emperor  does.  The  danger  from  invasion, 
insurrection,  and,  above  all,  mutiny  never  ended.  I 
question,  however,  if  these  circumstances  were  even 
considered  drawbacks.  They  were  not  so  con- 
sidered by  the  upper  classes  of  Europe  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  those  upper  classes  were  not 
tranquillized,  like  their  rivals  in  India,  by  a sincere 
belief  in  fate.  I do  not  find  that  Texans  hate  the 
wild  life  of  Texas,  or  that  Spanish-speaking  Ameri- 
cans think  the  personal  security  which  the  domin- 
ance of  the  English-speaking  Americans  would 
assure  to  them  is  any  compensation  for  loss  of 
independence.  I firmly  believe  that  to  the  immense 


io6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


majority  of  the  active  classes  of  India  the  old  time 
was  a happy  time  ; that  they  dislike  our  rule  as 
much  for  the  leaden  order  it  produces  as  for  its 
foreign  character  ; and  that  they  would  welcome  a 
return  of  the  old  disorders  if  they  brought  back 
with  them  the  old  vividness  and,  so  to  speak, 
romance  of  life. 

All  this  no  doubt  is  d priori  evidence.  Now  let 
us  look  at  something  a little  more  positive.  Of  all 
the  active  classes  of  India,  the  one  which  the 
English  treated  best  were  the  Sepoys,  the  Hindo- 
stanee  and  Beharee  peasants  who  for  a hundred 
years  had  followed  the  British  standard  in  a career 
of  victory  broken  only  once.  Alone  among  the 
soldiers  of  the  world  these  men  not  only  entered 
the  service  of  their  own  free-will,  but  were  author- 
ized to  quit  it  at  their  own  discretion.  They  could 
not  be  sent  abroad  without  their  own  consent — a 
consent  not  infrequently  refused.  Their  discipline 
was  so  mild  that  it  rather  resembled  that  of  police- 
men than  that  of  soldiers,  and  was  in  particular 
wholly  devoid  of  that  element  of  worry  which  is  the 
true  grievance  of  English  soldiers  when  not  in  the 
field.  They  were  paid  wages  just  double  those 
obtainable  in  civil  life,1  had  many  prizes  in  the  shape 
of  promotion,  and  received  their  pensions  as  regu- 
larly as  dividends  on  State  bonds.  Their  farms, 
even  in  Native  States,  were  specially  protected,  and 

1 This  is  not  true  now.  Wages  have  risen  much  more  than 
Sepoys’  pay. 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA?  107 

the  magistrates  made  it  their  duty  to  see  that  a 
complainant  who  had  been  a Sepoy  received  a 
speedy  and,  if  possible,  a favourable  award.  Even 
the  customary  hauteur  of  the  European  disappeared 
in  favour  of  the  Sepoys.  Their  officers  liked  and 
petted  them,  and  so  resented  any  aspersion  on  them 
as  to  impair,  sometimes  seriously,  the  necessary 
freedom  of  inspecting  generals.  The  Sepoys  never 
pretended  to  have  grievances,  for  the  greased- 
cartridge  story  was  an  invention,  dropped  when 
the  Mutiny  exploded,  and  the  intercepted  letters 
spoke  only  of  the  fewness  of  the  whites.  Yet 
these  men  not  only  mutinied,  but  slaughtered 
our  officers,  whom  individually  they  liked,  and 
even  in  many  instances  massacred  our  women  and 
children,  and  fought  us  for  two  years  with  a fury  of 
hate  which  made  compromise  impossible.  Why  ? 
Because  they  were  Asiatics,  filled  with  the  dull, 
unconquerable,  unmitigable  distaste  of  Asiatics  for 
white  men,  and  thought  they  saw  a chance  of 
getting  rid  of  them.  The  white  grains,  they  said, 
were  few,  and  the  black  grains  many,  and  they 
shook  the  sieve  that  the  white  grains  might  dis- 
appear. The  great  Mutiny  was  not  a mutiny,  but  a 
revolt,  in  which  the  armed  class,  as  was  natural,  took 
the  leading  share.  The  proclamation  of  the  effete 
dynasty  at  Delhi  — a proclamation  accepted  by 
Hindoos  as  well  as  Mussulmans — showed  its  true 
object,  which  was  to  restore  the  India  which  had 
been  before  the  arrival  of  Europeans.  In  every 


io8 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


emancipated  province  the  old  authority  was  replaced, 
and  it  is  the  specialty  of  the  Mutiny  among  revolts 
that  no  new  Sovereign,  or  Commander-in-Chief,  or 
general  leader  was  so  much  as  named.  The  history 
of  the  Mutiny,  carefully  studied,  is  to  my  mind  irre- 
sistible evidence  of  Indian  dislike  for  white  rule  ; 
yet  it  is  hardly  stronger  than  many  other  incidents. 
During  the  contest  over  the  Ilbert  Bill,  Lord  Ripon, 
the  reigning  Viceroy,  was  understood  to  be  to  a de- 
cided extent  upon  the  native  side.  The  belief  was 
exaggerated  by  the  bitterness  of  Anglo-Indian  feel- 
ing, Lord  Ripon  caring  little  about  the  Bill,  though 
he  thought  it  just  in  principle ; but  it  was  accepted 
throughout  the  brown  worlds  of  India  as  indubitably 
true,  and  when  Lord  Ripon  resigned,  after  he  had 
ceased  to  be  able  to  promote  or  punish  any  man,  all 
Northern  and  Western  India,  including  the  pick  of 
the  fighting  races,  prostrated  itself  at  his  feet.  His 
journey  from  Simla  to  Bombay  was  a triumphal 
march,  such  as  India  had  never  witnessed — a long 
procession,  in  which  seventy  millions  of  people 
sang  hosanna  to  their  friend.  Lord  Ripon  had 
done  nothing,  had  taken  off  no  tax,  had  removed 
no  burden,  had  not  altered  the  mode  of  government 
one  hair’s  breadth.  He  was  only  supposed  to  be 
for  the  Indians  and  against  the  Europeans,  and  that 
sufficed  to  bring  every  Indian  in  a fervour  of  friend- 
ship to  his  side.  Then  take  the  native  Press. 
There  are  now  hundreds  of  native  newspapers  in 
India,  most  of  them  conducted  by  educated  men, 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETALN  INDIA  ? 


log 


and  all  of  them  marked  by  a certain  rhetorical 
ability.  Their  circulation  is  seldom  large,  but  their 
conductors  are  content  with  little  money  ; they  seek 
and  find  audiences  far  wider  than  their  lists  of  sub- 
scribers ; and  what  is  their  almost  invariable  tone  ? 
Deadly  dislike  for  the  European  regime,  shown  now 
in  rhetorical  attacks,  now  in  exaggerations  of  griev- 
ances, again  in  misrepresentation  of  facts,  most 
frequently  of  all  in  savage  criticisms  on  the  agents 
of  authority — precisely  the  methods  which  at  the 
present  moment  find  favour  in  Ireland.  Are  we  to 
imagine  that  the  Indian  Press  alone  in  the  world 
represents  precisely  the  ideas  which  its  constituency 
disapproves,  or  that  Asiatic  editors,  unlike  all  other 
Asiatics,  quarrel  with  the  powerful  for  the  pleasure 
of  expressing  a non-existent  dislike  ? And,  finally, 
regard  the  cleavage  existing  in  India  between  Indian 
and  European  ; is  that  reassuring?  We  have  been 
in  India  as  rulers  for  a hundred  and  thirty  years, 
and  by  the  testimony  of  all  competent  observers  the 
chasm  between  the  colours  is  deeper  than  ever.  The 
objection  to  intermarriage  is  stronger  than  of  old, 
the  intercourse  of  the  races  is  more  reserved  and 
more  strictly  confined  to  business,  and  both  sides 
are  more  conscious  of  the  depth  of  an  inner  dislike. 
Read  the  letters  of  Europeans  to  friends  at  home, 
and  you  will  be  struck  with  their  absolute  ignorance 
of  all  native  life  and  interests,  their  profound,  almost 
unconscious,  indifference  to  the  masses  among  whom 
their  lives  are  passed.  Read,  on  the  other  hand 


no 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


the  letters  of  natives  who  profess  to  support  the 
Government,  and  they  always  end  with  a complaint 
of  the  disagreeableness  of  the  agents  of  authority, 
their  distance,  their  brusquerie,  their  inaccessibility 
to  Indian  feeling.  The  cleavage  has  deepened,  and 
it  will,  as  consciousness  awakes  more  fully,  deepen 
farther  yet.  Every  effort  is  made,  on  the  European 
side  at  least,  to  fill  up  the  chasm,  but  without  avail, 
the  truth,  after  all  the  talk,  remaining  true  that  the 
Europeanized  Indian  ceases,  for  all  good  purposes, 
to  be  an  Indian  at  all,  and  that  the  Indianized 
European  is  a lost  man.  The  space  between  the 
races  is  not  made  by  any  social  habit,  but  by  an 
inherent  antipathy,  which  is  not  hatred,  but  can  at 
any  moment  blaze  up  into  it. 

If  I have  succeeded  at  all  in  my  intention,  my 
readers  will  perceive  that  the  British  Empire  in 
India  depends  upon  a non-existent  loyalty,  and  will 
ask  me  how,  as  I conceive,  the  catastrophe  which 
I foresee  to  be  inevitable  will  arrive?  That  is  a 
question  to  which,  as  it  demands  in  answer  a 
prophecy,  no  man  possessed  of  just  distrust  in  him- 
self will  give  a direct  reply ; but  it  is  possible, 
nevertheless,  to  make  some  kind  of  answer.  If  we 
are  to  take  the  history  of  Asia  for  our  guide,  the 
British  dominion  in  India  should  be  overthrown  by 
external  violence  exerted  by  some  Asiatic  people ; 
just  as  the  Alexandrine  Empire  was  overthrown  by 
the  “ Parthian  ” and  the  Roman  by  the  Arab  and 
the  Turk.  But  it  is  probable  that  precedent  will, 


WILL  ENGLAND  DETAIN  INDIA? 


in 


in  this  instance,  be  departed  from.  There  is  no 
Asiatic  Power  remaining,  except  China,  which  can 
attack  India  with  any  chance  of  success  ; and  China 
has  Russia  to  drive  out  of  Northern  Asia.  The 
statesmen  of  Pekin  will  no  doubt  watch  diligently 
for  the  first  sign  of  weakness  in  Russia,  and,  prob- 
ably during  the  throes  of  some  revolution  in  her 
system  of  government  and  society,  will  push  masses 
of  riflemen,  followed  as  usual  by  millions  of  culti- 
vators, almost  to  the  Caspian  ; but  they  are  unlikely 
to  threaten  India.  The  possession  of  provinces  not 
Chinese  and  already  full  of  cultivators  is  contrary  to 
their  policy,  and  would  involve  the  formation  of  a 
great  standing  army.  Persia,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  ancient  foe  of  India,  may  be  pronounced  for  the 
present  dead.  Asiatic  self-government  has  in 
Persia  nearly  completed  its  perfect  work,  and  the 
very  people,  the  cultivating  and  working  population, 
has  almost  ceased  to  exist.  It  is  probable  that 
there  are  fewer  people  left  in  Persia,  which  should 
have  the  population  of  France,  than  in  Belgium,  and 
no  force  which  they  could  produce  would  make  any 
impression  upon  India.  The  Arabs  cannot  cross 
the  sea  in  the  presence  of  the  British  fleet,  and  the 
only  remaining  Asiatic  force,  a Tartar  tribe  strong 
enough  for  invasion,  is  not  clearly  proved  to  exist. 
Mr.  T.  Prinsep,  who  had  studied  the  subject,  left 
behind  him  a kind  of  prophecy  that  a Tartar  tribe, 
or  coalition  of  tribes,  descending  through  the 
eastern  Himalaya,  might  set  up  a throne  on  the 


I I 2 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ruins  of  British  power,  but  his  vision  remains  as  yet 
unsupported  by  any  evidence  whatever.  There  may 
be  a tribe,  or  league  of  tribes,  with  100,000  lives  to 
waste,  and  no  doubt  such  a tribe  might,  if  it  would 
die  in  heaps  in  an  engagement  or  two,  conquer 
India,  and,  being  accepted  by  the  Indians,  found  a 
splendid  empire  ; but  I question  its  existence,  and 
hold  this  danger,  though  conceivable,  to  be  outside 
the  range  of  calculation.  No;  the  catastrophe  in 
India  will  arrive  either  in  some  totally  unforeseen 
manner,  or  through  a general  insurrection  aided  by 
a voluntary  transfer  of  power  from  European  to 
Asiatic  hands.  The  insurrection  will  occur  within 
a month  of  our  sustaining  any  defeat  whatever 
severe  enough  to  be  recognized  as  a defeat  in  the 
Indian  bazaars.  Whether  the  enemy  is  an  internal 
one,  as,  for  example,  a Mussulman  leader  in  the 
Deccan  ; or  an  external  one,  such  as  a Russian  army 
or  even  an  Afghan  army,  a defeat  within  our  own 
territory  or  on  our  border  would  break  the  spell  of 
our  invincibility,  and  would  be  followed  by  a spon- 
taneous and  universal  insurrection  led  by  the  Sepoys 
and  armed  police,  directed,  not  to  the  support  of  a 
new  European  conquest,  but  to  the  throwing  off  of 
English  dominion  and  the  restoration  of  the  older 
and  Asiatic  method  of  Indian  life.  The  white 
garrison  defeated,  there  is  nothing  with  which  to 
continue  the  contest  even  for  a day.  A hundred 
principalities  would  be  created  in  a moment,  with 
Sovereigns  in  each  and  armies  ; life  would  recom- 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETALN  LNDLA  ? 


”3 


mence  under  its  old  conditions,  and  we  should 
have  the  work  of  the  century  to  do  over  again.  If 
the  British  were  favourably  situated  at  home,  if  no 
European  Power  raised  troubles,  and  if  popular 
feeling  was  favourable  to  the  effort,  the  Peninsula 
might  be  re-conquered,  and  though  the  task  of 
governing  it  would  be  much  more  difficult  both  on 
account  of  the  treasure  wasted  and  of  the  new  hopes 
begotten  in  every  Indian  breast,  still  an  uneasy 
tranquillity  might  continue  for  a generation,  to  be 
broken  again  after  thirty  or  forty  years  by  a third 
uprising.  We  shall  not  put  down  more  than  one  or 
two,  and  each  time  the  work  will  be  more  difficult, 
and  will  seem  to  opinion  at  home  more  profitless 
and  disagreeable.  The  British  people  have  no 
longer  either  the  energy  or  the  unscrupulousness  to 
maintain  government  by  slaughter,  and  the  sup- 
pression of  a general  revolt  in  India  would  involve 
slaughter  on  the  Asiatic  scale,  and  would  of  neces- 
sity be  followed  by  a different  scheme  of  govern- 
ment— one  much  harder,  more  suspicious,  and  less 
merciful. 

The  disposition  to  re-conquer  would,  moreover 
be  greatly  diminished  by  the  previous  disappearance 
of  any  great  object  for  such  an  effort.  All  who  have 
watched  the  progress  of  affairs  for  the  last  quarter  of 
a century,  are  aware  that  the  previously  formless 
discontent  of  India  is  gradually  finding  voice  in  a 
single  cry — that  office  in  India  should  be  reserved 
to  Indians ; and  that  this  cry  is,  though  slowly, 

I 


ii4 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


still  decidedly,  being  obeyed.  The  cry  itself  is  a 
very  natural  one.  The  Indians  are  not  aware  of 
their  own  inferiority  in  morale , or  disregard  it,  and 
they  are  aware  of  their  own  equality  in  intelligence. 
They  can,  they  say,  and  say  truly,  pass  any  exam- 
ination whatever  that  the  Government  or  the 
universities  like  to  frame — pass  it  so  well  that,  if 
competitive  examination  is  made  the  passport  to 
office,  they  will  within  fifty  years  hold  ninety  per 
cent,  at  least  of  all  the  highest  posts.  They  can, 
they  say,  and  say  truly,  as  far  as  intelligence  goes, 
govern  provinces — they  do  it  in  Native  States — 
can  make  excellent  civil  judges,  can  enforce  a 
revenue  system,  can  occupy  every  office  in  the 
police  or  any  other  administrative  department. 
Having  the  capability,  they  contend,  with  a vehem- 
ence growing  ever  louder,  that  it  is  monstrous 
to  refuse  them  permission  to  display  it,  and  the 
Europeans  find  it  every  year  more  and  more  difficult 
to  refuse.  They  have  themselves  asserted  that  all 
men  are  equal,  thus  barring  themselves  from  plead- 
ing any  right  as  conquerors.  They  have  them- 
selves, by  accepting,  even  in  home  affairs,  the 
principle  of  competitive  examination,  made  of  intelli- 
gence the  sole  test  of  fitness  for  office.  They 
have  themselves  in  all  the  colonies  and  in  Ireland 
laid  it  down  as  a dogma  that  those  born  on  any 
particular  soil  have  a preferential  claim  to  office  paid 
for  by  the  produce  of  that  soil,  and  have  given  up 
the  effort  to  provide  a special  and  impartial  ruiing 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA  ? 


”5 


caste.  They  have  left  themselves  no  arguments  to 
adduce,  and  it  is  questionable  whether  in  a few 
years  they  will  have  the  inclination  to  produce  any. 
For,  whether  for  good  or  evil,  a great  change  is 
passing  over  Englishmen.  They  have  become 
uncertain  of  themselves,  afraid  of  their  old  opinions, 
doubtful  of  the  true  teaching  of  their  own  con- 
sciences. They  doubt  if  they  have  any  longer  any 
moral  right  to  rule  any  one,  themselves  almost  in- 
cluded. An  old  mental  disease,  the  love  of  appro- 
bation, has  suddenly  risen  among  them  to  the  height 
of  a passion.  Instead  of  being  content  to  rule  well, 
to  do  justice  and  to  love  mercy,  they  are  trying 
themselves  by  a new  standard,  and  desire  to  rule  so 
that  the  governed  may  applaud,  or,  as  they  phrase 
it  with  a certain  unconscious  unctuousness,  may 
“love ’’them.  That  is  the  real  root  of  the  great 
change  which  has  passed  over  the  management  of 
children,  of  the  whole  difficulty  in  Ireland,  of  the 
reluctance  to  conquer,  and  of  the  whole  of  the  new 
philanthropic  social  legislation.  Now,  it  is  certain 
that  if  the  active  classes  of  India  are  to  be  induced 
to  applaud  or  love  the  British  dominion,  they  must 
be  regularly  and  speedily  invested  with  all  the 
offices  for  which  they  show  adequate  intelligence — 
that  is,  in  practice,  with  all  offices  whatever.  They 
are  qualified  for  them  all  in  everything  but  their 
morale , which  is  and  will  remain  Asiatic.  This  is 
their  own  desire,  and  it  is  not,  from  their  point  of 
view,  an  unnatural  one.  It  is  easy  for  Englishmen 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


1 16 

to  ridicule  the  passion  for  place,  but  it  governs 
Frenchmen,  Germans,  and  Irishmen  quite  as  much 
as  Indians,  and  for  the  same  reason.  Everywhere 
in  the  world  except  in  England  place  gives  dignity 
as  well  as  money,  brings  its  owner  within  the  great 
corporation  which  is  not  harassed  by  policemen,  or 
overlooked  by  rulers,  or  treated  with  contumely  by 
the  masses  of  mankind.  Thirst  of  money  alone  is 
not  the  motive,  for  Frenchmen  and  Germans  will 
accept  starvation  wages  from  the  State;  it  is  the 
hunger  for  distinction.  This  hunger  is  intensified 
in  the  Indian  by  his  desire  to  rise  to  an  equality 
with  the  white  man,  and  in  his  eagerness  to  gratify 
it  he  will  push  aside  every  obstacle,  and  never  rest 
until  every  office  is  at  his  disposal.  With  their 
eagerness,  their  early  developed  brains,  and  above 
all  their  numbers,  the  Indians  will,  in  the  present 
state  of  English  opinion,  prove  irresistible,  and  will, 
I venture  to  predict,  constitute  within  fifty  years  the 
whole  Imperial  Service — which,  I for  the  last  time 
repeat,  is  the  Indian  Empire.  The  process  has 
begun  already.  It  is  just  possible  that  English 
feeling  may  change,  for  no  other  democracy  enter- 
tains it,  Americans  and  Frenchmen,  for  instance, 
entirely  believing  in  their  right  to  govern  ; but  it  is 
more  probable  that  it  will  continue,  and,  if  it  does, 
logic  will  prove  irresistible.  If  the  Englishman  by 
virtue  of  the  superior  morale  of  his  race  has  not  a 
moral  right  to  govern  and  administer  India  irre- 
spective of  the  opinion  of  her  peoples,  then  he  has 


WILL  ENGLAND  RETAIN  INDIA  ? 


”7 


no  right  to  remain  there  when  she  bids  him  go,  no 
right  of  any  kind  to  office  if  an  Indian  can  beat  him 
at  the  tests  set  up.  The  compromises  suggested  by 
Service  Commissions  and  the  like  are  ridiculous  as 
well  as  unfair.  If,  as  the  last  one  suggested,  Indians 
ought  to  have  one-sixth  of  all  civil  offices,  they 
ought  to  have  all  if  they  can  win  them,  and  all 
military  appointments  too.  Race  being  nothing, 
morale  nothing,  and  intelligence  all  in  all,  there  is 
no  escape  from  the  conclusion,  and  no  hope  that,  in 
their  new  conception  of  their  duty,  Englishmen  will 
resist  it.  In  other  words,  Asia  will  shortly  regain 
her  own,  and  the  work  of  governing  India  will  be 
transferred  from  European  and  Christian  to  Asiatic 
and  Mussulman  or  pagan  hands.  The  whole  work 
of  the  conquest  will  be  undone,  and  the  coldly  im- 
partial caste  who  now  rule  so  disagreeably  and  so 
thoroughly  well  will  be  superseded  by  men  who 
have  every  temptation  to  be,  and  will  be,  Indian 
Pashas.  They  will  seek,  as  every  race  naturally 
does,  to  enjoy  and  to  exercise  power  according  to 
their  own  ideas,  and  not  according  to  ours,  and, 
being  their  own  superiors,  their  own  judges,  and 
their  own  public  opinion,  they  will  succeed.  How 
their  new  position  will  transmute  itself  into  formal 
independence  I am  careless  to  inquire,  but  in  all 
probability  the  abler  and  nobler  among  them  will 
insist  that  to  refuse  military  careers  to  the  people  of 
a whole  continent  is  most  unjust — which,  if  all  men 
are  equal  and  morale  does  not  signify,  is  true — and 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


118 

will  replace  the  British  soldiers  by  native  armies,  or, 
as  they  already  suggest,  by  millions  of  volunteers. 
Then  the  end  will  have  arrived ; there  will  be 
nothing  left  to  fight  for  when  the  great  Insurrec- 
tion occurs  and  we  are  asked  to  go  ; and  India  will 
re-emerge  as  she  was,  shortly  to  be  reduced  to  the 
condition  in  which  we  found  her.  There  will  not 
have  been  time  to  complete  the  one  grand  work  of 
civilization  which  the  Imperial  Service  has  begun — 
the  substitution  of  the  idea  of  government  by  law  for 
the  idea  of  government  by  human  volition.  It  will 
take  three  centuries  more  at  least — the  space  of  time 
between  Elizabeth  and  Victoria — for  that  idea  to 
filter  in  its  full  strength  down  to  the  Indian  masses, 
to  wake  them  out  of  their  torpor,  and  induce  them  to 
compel  their  rulers  to  suppress  their  passion  for 
doing  as  they  please.  India,  therefore,  will  fly  in 
pieces  ; the  ancient  hostilities  of  race,  and  creed, 
and  history,  none  of  which  have  we  had  time  to 
extinguish,  will  revive  at  once  ; and  life  will  again  be 
made  interesting  as  of  old  by  incessant  wars,  inva- 
sions, and  struggles  for  personal  ascendency.  The 
railways,  the  only  things  we  have  built,  will  be  torn 
up,  the  universities  will  be  scouted  by  military 
rulers,  the  population  will  begin  to  decline,  and,  in 
short,  for  one  word  expresses  it  all,  India  will  once 
more  be  Asiatic.  Within  five  years  of  our  departure 
we  shall  recognize  fully  that  the  greatest  experiment 
ever  made  by  Europe  in  Asia  was  but  an  experi- 
ment after  all  ; that  the  ineffaceable  distinctions 


WILL  ENGLAND  EE  TAIN  LNDLA  ? 


119 

of  race  were  all  against  it  from  the  first ; and  that 
the  idea  of  the  European  tranquilly  guiding,  con- 
trolling, and  perfecting  the  Asiatic  until  the  worse 
qualities  of  his  organization  had  gone  out  of  him, 
though  the  noblest  dream  ever  dreamed  by  man, 
was  but  a dream  after  all.  Asia,  which  survived  the 
Greek,  and  the  Roman,  and  the  Crusader,  will 
survive  also  the  Teuton  and  the  Slav. 


The  Charm  of  Asia  for  Asiatics 

ENGLISHMEN  are  often  surprised  at  the  pre- 
ference which  many  Orientals  display,  and 
which  most,  we  think,  feel  at  heart,  for  their  own 
life  over  the  life  of  Europe.  The  latter  seems  to 
them  so  much  more  varied,  so  much  more  interest- 
ing, so  much  fuller  both  of  change  and  of  incident, 
that  they  can  hardly  understand  how  a man  who 
has  tasted  both  can  deliberately  prefer  the  former. 
They  think  that  to  bring  Orientals  to  Europe  is  to 
make  them  European,  to  convince  them  that  “ civil- 
ization ” is  a pleasing  ideal,  to  plant  in  their  minds 
discontent  with  their  own  inferior  method  of  life. 
They  expect  Asiatics,  even  if  not  converted  by 
Europe,  to  enjoy  its  life  as  Americans  do,  or  rather, 
to  absorb  its  ideas  as  Greeks — who  always  seem 
slightly  Asiatic  to  Englishmen,  but  who  are  au  fond 
intensely  European,  though  not  Teutonic — usually 
do.  The  fact  that  there  are  Orientals  who,  having 
tried  both,  prefer  their  own  method  of  life,  with  all 
its  uncertainties  and  fears  and  defects  of  “ civiliza- 
tion,” puzzles  them  beyond  measure,  and  is  usually 

set  down  to  the  influence  of  polygamy,  which  exists, 

120 


THE  CHARM  OF  ASIA  FOR  ASIATICS  121 


no  doubt,  but  not  to  the  degree  commonly  sup- 
posed. There  is  another  influence  which  has,  we 
believe,  much  more  effect  on  Orientals  in  good 
position — and  few  others  try  Europe — and  that  is 
the  absence  of  a certain  form  of  social  pressure 
necessitating  an  endless  taking  of  trouble.  Not 
only  the  mental  atmosphere,  but  the  social  life  of 
Europe  are  based  upon  the  idea  that  a man  who 
wishes  for  a pleasant  life  will  show  energy  in  its 
pursuit,  will  take  endless  small  trouble,  will  not  feel 
an  exertion  of  mind  or  will  any  more  than  the 
piston  of  a steam-engine  feels  rising  or  falling. 
That,  however,  is  not  the  basis  of  society  in  Asia, 
where  the  root  idea  is  that  those  who  have  not 
to  live  by  labour  are  to  enjoy  a certain  exemption 
from  worry,  to  do  as  they  please,  and  not  as  other 
folks  please,  and  while  respecting  certain  immutable, 
but  few  and  definite  laws,  such  as  that  which  from 
the  Balkan  to  Pekin  enforces,  though  in  degrees  of 
wide  divergence,  the  seclusion  of  women,  are  to  be 
released  in  great  measure  from  the  atmospheric 
pressure  of  opinion.  The  Oriental  is,  whatever  his 
grade,  to  be  in  a way  independent,  released  from 
small  obligations,  left  “ free  ” in  a sense  explained 
below.  This  idea,  carried  out  as  it  is  in  daily  life, 
produces  many  of  the  least  intelligible  phenomena 
of  Asiatic  society, — the  democratic  equality  of  all 
men,  which  is  so  singularly  combined  with  readiness 
to  endure  and  to  inflict  oppression  ; the  absence  of 
mauvaise  honte , which  is  the  secret  of  the  much 


122 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


admired  “ manner  ” of  most  Asiatics,  and  which  is 
found  too,  for  the  same  reason,  in  some  classes  of 
Americans ; and  the  sense  of  ease  always  percep- 
tible in  a better  class  Oriental  at  home,  and  always 
puzzling  to  the  European,  who  thinks  he  knows 
facts  which  should  make  his  interlocutor  uneasy. 
In  the  new  and  very  charming  book  in  which 
Mrs.  Simpson  has  collected  her  father’s  conversa- 
tions with  great  Frenchmen,  there  occurs  a very 
striking  and  in  its  way  attractive  statement  of  the 
difference,  so  far  as  it  affects  the  mere  details  of 
daily  life.  Mr.  Senior,  who,  though  at  home 
regarded  as  a rather  hard  official — he  was  hard,  too, 
intellectually,  the  quality  peeping  out  perpetually  in 
these  conversations — was  in  society,  and  especially 
in  foreign  society,  the  most  sympathetic  of  men, 
and  could  by  some  rare  talent  coax  the  most 
different  of  mankind  into  revealing  their  real 
opinions,  had,  in  i860,  a long  talk  with  Vefyk 
Pasha,  then  Minister  at  Paris,  recently,  we  believe, 
the  man  who  presided  over  the  Ottoman  Assembly. 
He  said  of  Paris — 

What  I complain  of  is  the  mode  of  life.  I am  oppressed  not 
by  the  official  duties — they  are  easy,  Turkey  has  few  affairs — but 
by  the  social  ones.  I have  had  to  write  fifteen  notes  this  morn- 
ing, all  about  trifles.  In  Turkey  life  is  sans  gene ; if  a man  calls 
on  you  he  does  not  leave  a card ; if  he  sends  you  a nosegay  he 
does  not  expect  a letter  of  thanks ; if  he  invites  you  he  does  not 
require  an  answer.  There  are  no  engagements  to  be  remembered 
and  fulfilled  a fortnight  afterwards.  When  you  wish  to  see  a 
friend,  you  know  that  he  dines  at  sunset ; you  get  into  your 
caique,  and  row  down  to  him  through  the  finest  scenery  in  the 


THE  CHARM  OF  ASIA  FOR  ASIATICS  123 


world.  You  find  him  in  his  garden,  smoke  a chibouque,  talk  or 
remain  silent  as  you  like ; dine,  and  return.  If  you  wish  to  see  a 
Minister  you  go  to  his  office;  you  are  not  interfered  with,  or  even 
announced  ; you  lift  the  curtain  of  his  audience  room,  sit  by  him 
on  his  divan,  smoke  your  pipe,  tell  your  story,  get  his  answer, 
and  have  finished  your  business  in  the  time  which  it  takes  here  to 
make  an  appointment — in  half  the  time  that  you  waste  here  in  an 
antechamber.  There  is  no  dressing  for  dinners  or  for  evening 
parties ; evening  parties,  indeed,  do  not  exist.  There  are  no 
letters  to  receive  or  to  answer.  There  is  no  post  hour  to  be 
remembered  and  waited  for,  for  there  is  no  post.  Life  glides 
away  without  trouble.  Here  everything  is  troublesome.  All 
enjoyment  is  destroyed  by  the  forms  and  ceremonies  and  elabo- 
rate regulations  which  are  intended,  I suppose,  to  increase  it  or 
to  protect  it.  My  Liberal  friends  here  complain  of  the  want  of 
political  liberty.  What  I complain  of  is  the  want  of  social  liberty; 
it  is  far  the  more  important.  Few  people  suffer  from  the  despo- 
tism of  a Government,  and  those  suffer  only  occasionally.  But 
this  social  despotism,  this  despotism  of  salons,  this  code  of  arbi- 
trary little  rtglements,  observances,  prohibitions,  and  exigencies, 
affects  everybody,  and  every  day,  and  every  hour. 

Mark  the  idea  which  underlies  that  complaint,  and 
remember  that  it  extends  to  every  department  of 
life,  and  you  catch,  as  no  book  can  teach  you,  one 
of  the  secrets  of  the  Asiatic  mode  of  living,  and  its 
charm  for  Asiatics.  You  are  in  slippers,  not  in 
shoes ; in  a dressing-gown,  not  in  a dress-coat. 
The  ways  which  we  think  duties  they  think  worries, 
— at  once  evidences  of  unrest,  and  needless  obliga- 
tions imposed  on  life  to  make  it  tiresome.  When 
observances  are  imposed  by  religion,  that  is  another 
matter  ; but  except  by  religion  or  superior  power, 
the  will  ought  to  be  unrestrained.  They  feel  that 
life  under  a routine  of  duties,  obligations,  observ- 


124 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ances,  is  life  only  to  be  endured  under  coercion,  is 
life  needlessly  made  miserable.  Or  rather,  to  use 
an  illustration  many  of  our  readers  will  understand 
better,  they  feel  the  European  scheme  of  life  as 
men  who  are  by  nature  idle,  or  who  have  always 
been  masters  of  their  own  time,  feel  monotonous 
daily  work,  as  if  that  alone  by  itself  took  the  sweet- 
ness out  of  life.  They  do  not,  for  example,  want 
servants,  as  Englishmen  do,  invisibly  working  the 
household  machine,  and  keeping  everything  to-day 
as  it  was  yesterday,  but  want  personal  attendants, 
always  visible,  always  at  hand,  always  saving  them 
from  minute  trouble  and  effort.  The  feeling-  is  not 
exactly  indolence,  though  it  looks  so  like  it,  and 
though  it  has,  in  the  course  of  ages  passed  in 
climates  where  exertion  is  also  effort,  become  mixed 
up  with  it;  but  rather,  as  Vefyk  Pasha  says,  a form 
of  the  liking  for  liberty,  or  the  desire  for  the  gratifi- 
cation in  details  of  the  strong  self-will  which  gives 
to  all  Asiatics  without  exception  some  character- 
istics of  spoiled  children.  They  do  not  want  to 
dine  out  when  they  are  asked,  but  to  dine  out 
when  they  wish,  and  the  mere  notion  that  if  they 
dine  out  and  have  the  whim  to  be  silent  they  may 
not  be  silent,  is  fatiguing.  Life,  to  be  delightful, 
must  be  always  afternoon,  and  afternoon  in  holiday. 
Unfortunately  for  themselves,  Asiatics  carry  this 
spirit,  which,  if  confined  to  social  arrangements, 
might  produce  nothing  worse  than  simplicity,  into 
serious  life,  and  apart  altogether  from  bad  morale , 


THE  CHARM  OF  ASIA  FOR  ASIATICS  125 


which  we  are  not  now  discussing,  allow  a defect  of 
temperament  to  ruin  administration.  They  will 
not,  under  any  provocation,  burden  themselves  with 
a sustained  habit  of  taking  trouble.  You  might 
as  well  ask  lazzaroni  to  behave  like  Prussian 
officials.  They  issue  orders,  and  punish  terribly  if 
they  are  not  obeyed,  but  that  is  their  only  notion 
of  securing  obedience.  As  to  “ hunting  the  order 
down  ” to  its  execution,  they  would  not  accept  life 
at  the  price  of  such  a duty.  Nothing  can  be 
funnier  than  a contrast  which  happens  to  be  drawn 
in  this  book  between  Thiers’  idea  on  this  matter 
and  Vefyk  Pasha’s.  We  have  given  the  Turk’s, 
here  is  the  Frenchman’s — 

I used  constantly  to  find  my  orders  forgotten,  or  neglected,  or 
misinterpreted.  As  I have  often  said  to  you,  men  are  naturally 
idle,  false,  and  timid  ; tnenteurs,  laches , paresseux.  Whenever  I 
found  that  an  employe  supposed  that  because  an  order  had  been 
given,  it  had  been  executed,  or  that  because  he  had  been  told  a 
thing  it  was  true,  I gave  him  up  as  an  imbecile.  Bonaparte 
nearly  lost  the  battle  of  Marengo  by  supposing  that  the  Austrians 
had  no  bridge  over  the  Bormida.  Three  generals  assured  him 
that  they  had  carefully  examined  the  river,  and  that  there  was 
none.  It  turned  out  that  there  were  two,  and  our  army  was  sur- 
prised. When  I was  preparing  for  war  in  1840,  I sat  every  day 
for  eight  hours  with  the  Ministers  of  War,  of  Marine,  and  of  the 
Interior.  I always  began  by  ascertaining  the  state  of  execution 
of  our  previous  determinations.  I never  trusted  to  any  assurances, 
if  better  evidence  could  be  produced.  If  I was  told  that  letters 
had  been  despatched,  I required  a certificate  from  the  clerk  who 
had  posted  them  or  delivered  them  to  the  courier.  If  answers 
had  been  received,  I required  their  production.  I punished  in- 
exorably every  negligence,  and  even  every  delay.  I kept  my 
colleagues  and  my  bureaux  at  work  all  day,  and  almost  all  night. 


126 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


We  were  all  of  us  half  killed.  Such  a tension  of  mind  wearies 
more  than  the  hardest  bodily  work.  At  night  my  servants  un- 
dressed me,  took  me  by  the  feet  and  shoulders  and  placed  me  in 
my  bed,  and  I lay  there  like  a corpse  till  the  morning.  Even  my 
dreams,  when  I dreamt,  were  administrative. 

No  Asiatic  not  an  exceptional  man  will  do  that,  yet 
in  Asia  it  is  five  times  as  necessary  as  in  Europe, 
because  the  subordinates,  besides  the  regular  desire 
not  to  work  over-much,  of  which  Thiers  complained, 
feel  the  overwhelming  desire  for  that  which  Vefyk 
Pasha  called  “ liberty,” — a life  not  burdened  with 
peremptory  but  “ trifling  ” duties.  They  want  to 
be  “ gentlemen,”  as  the  poor  often  understand  the 
word — that  is,  men  released  from  imperative  neces- 
sities. One-half  the  weakness  of  every  Oriental 
government — we  do  not  mean  one-half  the  oppres- 
sion, that  has  a different  origin — arises  from  the 
impossibility  of  finding  men  who  will  act  as  Thiers 
did,  or  of  supplying  the  absence  of  the  lacking 
spirit  either  by  regulations  or  by  punishments.  An 
Oriental  household  can  be  well  ordered  in  its  way, 
but  as  to  making  it  a machine  as  perfect  as  a 
regiment,  and  self-acting  as  many  European  house- 
holds are,  it  cannot  be  done.  No  punishment  and 
no  reward  will  make  a race  in  which  this  spirit  is 
inborn,  or  into  which  it  has  entered,  exact,  punctual, 
or  prompt.  The  southern  slave-holders  tried  it 
with  negroes  under  the  most  favourable  circum- 
stances, and  failed  ; and  no  European  that  we  can 
recollect  has  ever  thoroughly  succeeded.  That 


THE  CHARM  OF  ASIA  FOR  ASIATICS  127 


which  can  be  neglected  is  neglected,  not  from  a 
wish  that  it  should  not  be  done,  but  from  a detesta- 
tion of  the  fatigue  of  doing  it  at  an  inopportune 
moment — that  is,  at  any  moment  when  doing  it 
would  break  up  the  sense  of  the  pleasant  ease  of 
afternoon,  which,  in  the  Asiatic  ideal,  should  con- 
stitute the  whole  of  life.  Of  course,  with  that 
temper  come  its  correlatives,  indifference  about 
right  and  wrong — for  if  you  are  not  indifferent,  the 
afternoon  is  always  being  broken — and  a callous- 
ness as  to  what  happens  to  anybody,  if  the  restful 
ease  do  but  remain  undisturbed.  Charles  II.,  as 
described  by  Macaulay,  had  the  temperament  to  per- 
fection, would,  in  fact,  have  been  the  most  perfect 
specimen  of  the  Oriental,  but  that  having  a trace 
of  Scotland  in  his  blood,  he  was  liable  to  the  curse 
from  which  the  Asiatic  is  usually  free — the  mental 
low  fever  for  which  we  have  adopted  the  word 
ennui. 

We  dare  say  we  have  failed  in  making  this 
temperament  and  its  tendencies  as  visible  to  our 
readers  as  it  is  to  ourselves,  but  it  is  the  peculiarity 
which  makes  those  Englishmen  who  best  like  the 
East  despair  most  of  administrative  reform.  They 
know  that  a certain  rigour  will  produce  honesty, 
that  oppression  can  be  checked  by  giving  certain 
power  of  resistance,  and  that  Asiatics  who  wish 
well  can  be  discovered,  but  they  know  also  that 
all  this  will  not  produce  an  effective  governing 
machine  without  the  Western  power  of  taking 


128 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


trouble  perpetually.  That  is  what  first  of  all 
makes  them  cry  out  for  “ European  assistance  ” in 
every  department,  and  praise  Asiatic  rulers  in  pro- 
portion to  their  readiness  to  take  European  advice. 
They  know — Sir  Henry  Layard,  for  instance,  knows 
— that  besides  the  readiness  to  take  bribes,  and 
the  religious  arrogance,  and  the  sensuality,  the 
reformers  have  to  contend  with  the  desire  for  the 
“afternoon  life,”  which,  in  the  ruler,  produces 
cruelty,  because  only  cruelty  can  get  him  his  way 
without  endless  trouble,  and,  in  his  subordinate, 
neglect.  They  know  that  an  Oriental  regiment 
will  uninspected  go  to  pieces,  because  the  officers 
want  to  avoid  the  harass  of  details  ; that  a depart- 
ment will  get  to  a dead-lock,  because  nobody  will 
worry  like  Thiers  ; that  a province  will  grow  dis- 
contented, because  nobody  will  search  into  haras- 
sing, trivial  complaints.  They  know,  in  fact,  that 
civilization  cannot  be  kept  up  if  life  all  the  while 
is  to  be  always  afternoon  ; and  that  an  Asiatic  is 
like  an  average  aristocrat,  and  regards  that  after- 
noon as  the  summum  bonum , to  which  all  else  may 
expediently  be  sacrificed,  and  those  who  interfere 
with  it  as  “ unaccountable,  uncomfortable  works  of 
God.”  The  European  is  in  Asia  the  man  who 
will  insist  on  his  neighbour  doing  business  just  after 
dinner,  and  being  exact  when  he  is  half  asleep,  and 
being  “ prompt  ” just  when  he  wants  to  enjoy, — and 
he  rules  in  Asia  and  is  loved  in  Asia  accordingly. 


English  and  Asiatic  Feeling 
Contrasted 


[This  was  published  in  1874] 


LL  Englishmen  interested  in  the  government 


of  India  should  read  a private  letter  from 
Lieutenant  E.  C.  Yate,1  which  has  been  communi- 
cated to  the  Times  and  was  published  in  its  outside 
sheet  on  14th  Nov.,  1874.  Lieutenant  Yate  was  then 
Assistant  Political  Agent,  or,  as  English  officials 
would  put  it,  Secretary  of  Legation,  at  Oodeypore, 
the  modern  capital  of  the  leading  State  in  Raj- 
pootana  ; and  he  writes,  apparently  to  some  relative, 
a full  account  of  the  scenes  which  followed  the 
recent  death  of  the  Maharana.  The  word  “ Ma- 
harana  ” is  an  older  form  of  Maharajah,  and  its 
feminine  is  “ Maharanee,”  still  the  only  word  em- 
ployed as  the  equivalent  for  “ Queen.”  The  letter 
will  well  repay  perusal  for  itself,  being  a most 
truthful  and  picturesque  account  of  a very  excep- 
tional scene  ; and  if  the  reader  will  only  study  it 
carefully,  and  then  glance  at  Colonel  Tod’s  “ Rajas- 
than ” and  that  great  Indian’s  account  of  Oodeypore 
and  its  Sovereigns,  he  will  perhaps  comprehend 
why  the  English  officer  in  India,  though  trusted  and 

1 Experience  has  taught  Lieut.  Yate,  who  is  now  Colonel  Yate, 
a distinguished  “ Political  ” with  many  decorations. 

129 


K 


130 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


respected,  is  also  hated  with  a vehemence  which, 
to  the  well  informed  Englishman  who  is  aware 
that  the  Government  of  India  is  perhaps  the  most 
upright  in  the  world,  seems  almost  unintelligible. 
Lieutenant  Yate,  to  judge  from  his  letter — the  only 
source  of  knowledge  which  we  possess  about  him — 
is  a very  good  fellow,  brave,  calm  and  intelligent, 
though  unimaginative,  standing  right  at  the  centre 
of  affairs  in  Oodeypore,  and  bound  by  his  official 
position  not  only  to  record,  but  also  to  understand 
the  scene  before  his  eyes.  He  records  it  very  well 
indeed,  as  well  as  a Times  reporter  would  have  done, 
or  better,  because  in  a more  simple  way,  but  he 
understands  it  much  as  a Shah  of  Persia  would 
understand  a great  debate  in  the  English  House  of 
Commons.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  is 
an  Englishman  of  so  typical  a kind  that  he  is 
incapable  of  understanding  it — as  completely  barred 
out  from  any  true  comprehension  of  its  meaning  as 
an  English  squire  is  barred  out  from  understanding 
the  ideas  of  the  few  thinkers  like  Delescluze,  who 
supported  the  Paris  Commune.  He  is  present  at  a 
scene  which  to  every  Hindoo  in  India,  and  to  a few 
Englishmen,  would  have  seemed  one  of  the  strangest 
and  most  pathetic  conceivable  ; he  watches  it  in  all 
its  details  most  carefully  and  composedly,  and  the 
only  distinct  impression  made  on  his  mind  is  that  it 
is  very  “ funny  ” ; not,  that  is,  very  comic,  but  slightly 
bewildering  and  unintelligible.  His  imagination  is 
not  excited  and  therefore  he  remains  impenetrable 


ENGLISH  AND  ASIATIC  FEELING 


*3i 


to  the  meaning  of  half  he  sees,  quite  tolerant,  fairly 
just,  but  hopelessly  unsympathetic  and  obtuse. 

The  Rana  of  Oodeypore  bears  to  the  vast  organ- 
ization which  we  call  “ Hindooism  ” a relation  abso- 
lutely unique,  a relation  for  which  there  is  no 
equivalent  whatever  either  in  European  or  Asiatic 
politics.  He  is  not  a Pope,  for  though  he  is  the 
highest  Hindoo,  and  his  fiat  is  necessary  to  the 
consecration  of  any  Hindoo  sovereign — not  to  his 
enthronement,  mind,  but  only  to  his  consecration  — 
he  claims  and  exercises  no  religious  power  whatever, 
except,  we  believe,  in  rare  cases  that  of  quashing 
a Brahminical  excommunication.  That  he  exer- 
cises this  is  certain,  as  Ranas  of  Oodeypore  have 
repeatedly  removed  by  decree  the  degradation  and 
loss  of  caste  suffered  by  Hindoo  princes  from  com- 
pulsory marriages  with  the  daughters  of  Emperors 
of  Delhi ; and  we  think,  under  correction  always 
from  Hindoo  antiquarians,  that  he  also  claims  it. 
Still  he  is  not  a Pope,  nor,  though  the  origin  of  his 
power  is  the  same,  does  he  hold  the  position  of  the 
Mikado  in  Japan.  The  latter  is  the  descendant 
of  the  gods,  and  still  the  most  trustworthy  exponent 
of  their  will ; while  the  former,  though  the  repre- 
sentative of  Rama,  and  therefore,  as  Hindoos  think, 
the  descendant  of  a king  in  whom  Vishnu  was  incar- 
nate and  whose  memory  is  so  sacred  that  the  mere 
repetition  of  his  name,  whether  by  yourself  or  by  a 
parrot  for  you,  is  an  act  at  once  of  merit  and  of 
purification,  derives  from  his  divine  ancestry  only 


I32 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


a modified  sanctity,  more  like  the  sanctity  of  the 
Comte  de  Chambord  in  the  eyes  of  an  ultra- Legiti- 
mist than  the  sanctity  of  the  Mikado.  The  relation, 
however,  unique  as  it  is,  is  close  and  real,  so  real 
that  an  insult  to  the  Rana  would  be  a personal 
shock  to  every  Hindoo  ; much  more  real  than  the 
almost  equally  strange  relation  which  the  ruler  of 
Nepal,  Jung  Bahadoor’s  nominal  master,  as  the  last 
undefiled  Hindoo  king,  the  single  one  left  who  has 
never  submitted  to  the  barbarian,  bears  to  Hindoo- 
ism,  and  the  extinction  of  the  race  would  be  felt 
as  deeply  by  all  Hindoos  as  the  extinction  of  the 
House  of  Othman  would  be  by  all  Turks.  The 
line  of  the  Ranas  of  Oodeypore  has  been  broken  by 
adoption,  though  we  see  no  certain  proof  that  they 
ever  adopted  outside  the  solar  race,  and  though  the 
deceased  Rana  risked  his  safety  in  the  next  world 
rather  than  adopt  a son  to  the  detriment  of  his 
family;  but  in  Hindoo  estimation,  and  as  a histori- 
cal fact,  the  succession  has  remained  unbroken  from 
Rama  downwards,  a period  which  writers  like 
Mr.  Marshman,  who  is  utterly  and  perhaps  unduly 
sceptical  of  Hindoo  chronology,  fix  about  1200  b.c., 
more  than  3,000  years  ago,  and  which  no  one  except 
Lieutenant  Yate  brings  down  far  below  600  b.c. — 
later,  that  is,  than  the  expulsion  of  the  kings  from 
Rome.  The  Popes  are  parvenus  beside  the  Ranas 
of  Oodeypore,  and  the  Bourbons  compared  with  them 
are  adventurers  of  yesterday.  The  late  Maharana 
ruled  only  a small  territory — 1 1,000  square  miles,  or 


ENGLISH  AND  ASIATIC  FEELING 


T33 


less  than  two  Yorkshires,  and  barely  a million  and  a 
quarter  of  people,  half  of  them  aborigines  outside 
Hindooism — but  he  and  his  have  ruled  his  tribe 
first  at  Lahore  and  then  in  Oodeypore  from  the 
time  when  the  world  was  young  and  when  the  solar 
race  was  possibly  pure  white — the  Brahmins  are  our 
kinsmen,  though  they  crossed  their  blood  early  ; 
have  survived  Alexander,  in  whose  time  they  were 
probably  as  “ old  ” as  the  Cecils  are  now ; have 
defied  the  Mussulman  Emperors,  with  whose 
daughters,  as  they  boast,  they  never  contracted  a 
contaminating  alliance ; have  outlived  the  Mah- 
rattas  ; and  will,  in  their  own  belief  and  that  of  all 
Hindoos,  outlast  the  intrusive  Mlechas  (Barbarians), 
who,  “ for  some  mysterious  purpose  of  the  Allwise, 
are  permitted  to  make  penknives  and  sell  piece 
goods  and  conquer  the  world,”  and  to  interfere,  with 
their  pother  of  civilization,  with  the  Divinely  ordered 
scheme  of  Hindoo  society.  The  death  of  a ruler  of 
this  race  is  to  all  Hindoos  an  event ; to  his  imme- 
diate subjects  a catastrophe  to  be  bewailed,  as  men 
inside  Europe  wail  only  for  their  children  and  their 
wives.  He  is  so  great  in  their  eyes  that,  as  in 
Europe  in  the  middle  ages,  his  subjects  scarcely 
believe  he  has  died  naturally,  and  the  first  emotion 
excited  by  his  danger  is  the  suspicion  that  witch- 
craft has  been  at  work.  A whole  community  gives 
itself  up  to  the  wildest  emotion ; great  nobles, 
scarcely  seen  except  in  chain-armour,  stand  by  the 
palace  gates  beating  their  breasts ; the  populace  cry 


134 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


aloud  with  one  voice  ; the  priests  flock  in  from  all 
Rajpootana ; the  women  of  the  household,  frenzied 
with  excitement,  assert  their  right  to  share  the 
funeral  pyre,  and  would  execute  themselves  but  for 
the  interference  of  the  British  ; and  strangest  and 
most  pathetic  signal  of  all,  a whole  population — 
among  whom  an  insult  to  the  beard  is  the  signal  for 
instant  and  murderous  vengeance — submit,  in  sign 
of  their  despair,  to  the  last  earthly  humiliation,  and 
shave  their  faces  clean.  Lieutenant  Yate,  in  whose 
letter  there  is  no  trace  of  an  unkindly  disposition, 
sees  it  all,  records  it  all,  and  judges  it  all  as  if  it 
were  all  acted  at  the  Alhambra,  as  if  it  were  all 
spectacular  tragedy,  without  depth  or  reality  of 
feeling.  He  says  all  the  men  in  the  palace  “ were 
howling  and  beating  their  breasts”;  implies  that  the 
women  were  merely  acting  their  frenzy,  and  would 
have  jumped  from  their  windows  if  only  anybody 
had  held  up  awnings  to  jump  into  ; remarks  that 
the  shaven  population  had  “ the  funniest  appear- 
ance ” ; describes  “ the  emblem  of  royalty,  the 
Hindoo  Suruj,  or  Sun  ” (it  is  the  emblem  of  the 
race,  not  of  royalty  ; the  White  Lily,  not  the  Crown 
of  France)  and  the  red  umbrella  as  “ paraphernalia  ” 
— we  wonder  he  did  not  write  “ properties,”  in  true 
theatrical  phrase — and  acknowledges,  with  the  true 
naivett  of  an  Englishman,  that  he  has  forgotten  the 
exact  date  of  the  reign  of  Rama,  but  it  is  “ 1,500 
years  or  so  ago  ” — a date  which,  considering  that 
the  writer’s  ancestors  were  then  tattooed  savages 


ENGLISH  AND  ASIATIC  FEELING 


i35 


with  a penchant  for  human  sacrifice,  were,  in  fact, 
about  on  a level  with  Maoris,  naturally  appears 
to  him  one  of  immeasurable  antiquity.  There  is 
nothing  for  him  of  the  pathetic  in  the  scene,  nothing 
suggestive — though,  be  it  observed,  he  notes  and 
records  with  appreciation  the  loveliness  of  a view 
across  the  neighbouring  lake — no  electric  influence 
from  the  grief  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  communi- 
ties in  the  world,  nothing  but  a crowd  of  persons 
intent,  for  some  reason  of  their  own,  on  unusual  and 
somewhat  preposterous,  though  striking  ceremonials. 
The  one  thing  that  strikes  him  as  wonderful  is  that 
the  two  claimants  for  the  throne,  each  with  his 
troop  of  armed  followers,  should  obey  the  unaccom- 
panied Political  Agent,  Colonel  Wright,  and  await 
passively  the  award  of  the  far  distant  barbarian 
Viceroy.  That  he  evidently  thinks  marvellous,  and 
he  returns  again  and  again  to  the  evidences  of 
Colonel  Wright’s  authority,  never  dreaming  that 
these  Hindoo  nobles,  who  to  him  are  so  “funny” 
with  their  shaven  faces,  have  a political  instinct 
equal  to  his  own,  and  know  as  well  as  he  does  that 
Colonel  Wright  represents  a force  before  which 
Oodeypore  could  not  stand  up  for  an  hour.  Be- 
sides, why  should  they  resist  ? The  succession  is 
not  contested  by  any  but  the  Children  of  the  Sun, 
and  the  Viceroy  will  not  impeach  their  claim ; and 
what  else  signifies,  except  to  the  individual  claimants 
of  the  throne  ? If,  indeed,  there  were  a chance  of  a 
departure  from  the  line,  if  the  race  of  Rama  were 


136 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


about  to  be  dethroned,  then,  indeed — well,  then 
London  would  have  missed,  for  one  thing,  a very 
picturesque  account  of  a scene  in  an  unknown  world, 
and  Lieutenant  Yate’s  family,  among  a thousand 
others,  would  have  mourned  a kinsman. 


The  Reflex  Effect  of  Asiatic  Ideas 


IT  is  a quarter  of  a century  ago  since  the  present 
writer  observed  in  the  Spectator , when  com- 
menting on  some  fresh  triumph  of  the  mail  service, 
that  the  increase  of  communication  between  Europe 
and  Asia  might  produce  unexpected  results.  We 
all  think  of  it  as  increasing  the  intellectual  grip 
of  Europe  on  Asia,  but  it  must  also  facilitate  the 
reflex  action  of  Asiatic  ideas  on  Europe.  They 
poured  back  on  us  in  a flood  during  the  Crusades  ; 
and  why  should  they  not  pour  again,  to  affect  us 
once  more,  either,  as  Christianity  did,  by  conver- 
sion, or,  as  Mahommedanism  did,  by  recoil  ? The 
prophecy  has  not  hitherto  been  accomplished.  The 
dividing  barrier  between  the  thoughts  of  the  East 
and  the  West  has  proved  tenacious,  and  though, 
to  the  surprise  of  mankind,  Oriental  art  has  made 
a capture  of  the  European  mind,  so  that  Asiatic 
colouring  and  Asiatic  decoration  have  permanently 
affected  all  Western  eyes,  the  special  thoughts  of 
the  East  have  made  little  visible  impression.  We 
fancy,  however,  that  the  barrier  is  cracking.  By 
far  the  most  startling  fact  in  the  biography  of 

187 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


138 

Laurence  Oliphant  was  the  proof  it  afforded  that 
Western  minds — for  Oliphant  was  not  alone — 
could  accept  and  act  on  a leading  Asiatic  idea, 
that  if  a man  could  utterly  dominate  self,  and  make 
the  body  a completely  passive  agent  of  the  will, 
he  would  wrest  from  Heaven,  or  Fate,  or  the 
Universum,  whichever  it  was,  powers  transcending 
those  known  from  experience  to  be  possessed  by 
human  beings.  The  possessor  of  those  powers 
could  convert  the  world  without  the  slow  methods 
of  persuasion,  perhaps  enter  into  relation  with 
beings  before  whose  wisdom  that  of  men  is  ignor- 
ant foolishness.  That  was  the  governing  hope 
which  impelled  Laurence  Oliphant  to  his  strange 
life,  with  its  victory,  as  he  thought,  over  the  flesh  ; 
and  it  will,  by-and-by,  probably  impel  much  stronger 
natures  than  his.  The  prize  is  so  enormous,  so 
entirely  transcending  any  usual  reward  for  effort, 
that  the  minds  which  can  accept  its  possibility 
will  be  strongly  moved  to  the  attempt,  and  will 
waste  years  in  an  experiment  which,  though  so 
often  made,  and  sometimes  made  successfully — for 
there  are  faqueers  and  sunyasees  and  Buddhist 
devotees  who  have  conquered  the  body — has  never 
yet  produced  a spark  of  result  in  supernormal 
power.  Fortunately,  those  who  try  it  will  be  few, 
for  the  Western  mind,  unlike  the  Eastern,  can 
never  be  quite  dominated  by  an  idea,  and  always 
applies  to  it  some  test  which,  in  the  case  of  a 
theory  like  self-suppression,  is  sure,  sooner  or  later, 


THE  REFLEX  EFFECT  OF  ASIATIC  IDEAS  139 


to  be  fatal.  We  shall  see,  however,  a few  trials, 
witness  the  rise  of  some  strange  sects,  and  prob- 
ably see  a large  diffusion  of  that  Eastern  idea, 
the  presence  of  the  all-pervading  universal  spirit 
in  all  things,  good,  evil,  and  indifferent,  which,  if 
Mr.  J.  A.  Symonds  is  a sound  critic,  is  the  govern- 
ing thought,  indeed  the  sole  thought,  of  Walt 
Whitman,  and  which  his  critic  also  believes  to  be 
of  the  essence  of  democracy.  It  will  liquefy  morals 
if  it  comes,  and  drive  back  civilization,  so  far  as 
civilization  is  dependent  on  a discipline  of  restraints; 
but  come  it  will  in  places,  with  its  correlative,  that 
all  material  things,  bad,  good,  and  indifferent,  if 
placed  in  an  intense  light,  are  essentially  evil.  You 
see  both  ideas  filling  Russian  literature  even  now, 
and  the  thought  of  the  Slav,  which  differs  from 
all  other  thought  in  Europe  by  instantly  producing 
act,  as  thought  does  in  children,  has  a great  part 
yet  to  play  in  moulding  the  West. 

So  has  Buddhist  thought.  All  that  stuff  about 
Mahatmas  is  rubbish,  unsupported  by  a trace  of 
evidence,  a merely  stupid  expression  of  the  desire 
of  so  many  minds  for  guidance  either  incapable 
of  error,  or  less  capable  than  the  guidance  of 
ordinary  beings ; but  the  Mahatma  notion  is  a mere 
excrescence  on  a creed  which  has  a big  thought 
embedded  in  it.  We  were  surprised  to  perceive 
that  both  the  French  Buddhists,  and  the  English 
as  represented  by  Mrs.  Besant,  avowed  a belief  in 
the  doctrine  of  transmigration,  or,  as  the  latter 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


140 


prefers  to  call  it,  of  reincarnations.  To  most 
Englishmen,  that  idea,  which  in  one  way  or  another 
dominates  the  whole  of  non- Mussulman  Asia,  even 
that  comparatively  small  section  of  the  Chinese 
which  is  capable  of  rising  above  pure  secularism, 
has  a slightly  comic  effect,  derived,  we  fancy, 
chiefly  from  an  impression  that  to  become  an  animal 
— which  could  only  be  a result  of  continuous 
degradation — would  be  an  absurdity.  The  doctrine, 
however,  as  really  held  in  Asia,  has  an  astonishing 
charm  for  some  subtle  minds,  and  especially  for 
those  which  are  never  content  to  await  future 
solutions  to  the  great  perplexities  of  the  world. 
It  does  explain  the  inexplicable,  and  reconcile  man, 
not  indeed  to  his  destiny,  but  to  his  position  in 
the  world.  The  whole  notion  of  an  injustice 
inherent  in  the  scheme  of  the  universe,  disappears 
at  once,  and  all  that  endless  problem  why  some, 
perhaps  innocent,  suffer,  and  some,  perhaps  guilty, 
enjoy.  There  is  no  injustice  if  this  life  is  but  a 
link  in  a long  chain  of  past  as  well  as  future  lives, 
and  the  millionaire  is  being  rewarded  for  his  past 
careers,  and  the  pauper  punished  for  his.  Suffer- 
ing, under  that  theory,  is  but  expiation  for  your 
own  forgotten  crimes,  and  will  be  fully  repaid  by 
the  cleanliness  in  which  you  will  enter  on  the  next 
stage ; while  enjoyment  is  but  reward,  moderated 
by  its  concomitant,  the  temptation  to  let  the  flesh 
win  again,  and  so  recommence  the  round.  Nor 
is  equality  possible,  or  inequality  unjust,  when 


THE  REFLEX  EFFECT  OF  ASIATIC  IDEAS  141 


grade  is  a sign  of  the  favour  won  from  the  All, 
and  the  prince  is  reaping  reward,  and  the  night- 
soilman  paying  the  penalty  for  the  deeds  of  previous 
existence.  There  is  not  a particle  of  evidence  for 
the  hypothesis,  which  has  against  it,  in  a philosophic 
sense,  the  want  of  purpose  in  the  total  of  existence  ; 
but  it  does  explain  the  visible  phenomena,  and 
that  in  so  modern  a way  that  nothing  would  surprise 
us  less  than  to  see  it  adopted  by  great  crowds 
who,  in  their  passion  of  pity,  accuse  God  of  op- 
pression because  He  suffers  unearned  pain  to  exist 
among  mankind.  Why  should  a child  which  has 
done  nothing  have  epilepsy  ? That  is  the  perpetual 
half-formulated  query  of  modern  philanthropy  ; and 
Buddhism,  which  leaves  the  greatest  problems 
unsolved — for  instance,  the  use  of  the  universe, 
which  under  its  theory,  is  an  ever-revolving  circle 
of  inutilities  springing  from  the  All  and  reabsorbed 
into  it — does  resolve  the  problem  which  for  a 
moment,  when  the  imagination  of  men  has,  as 
it  were,  become  raw,  presses  sharply  upon  the 
excoriation.  The  theory  rebuilds  content  with  the 
universe,  and  gets  rid  of  puzzledom  ; and  but  for 
something  in  the  average  white  mind  which  rejects 
it,  because,  we  fancy,  it  suggests  such  inconceivable 
waste,  a whole  universe  gyrating  like  a dancing 
dervish  to  no  end,  it  might  become  one  of  the 
prevalent  creeds  of  Europe.  It  is  consistent  with 
the  effort  to  be  good,  yet  explains  suffering  and 
imposes  perfect  resignation, — a great  comfort  to  the 


142 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


majority  who  suffer.  It  will  have  its  career,  too, 
if  faith  in  a personal  God  dies  out,  for  humanity 
will  always  explore  the  whence  and  whither  ; and 
if  the  ultimate  cause  is  either  universal  and  eternal 
matter,  or  intangible  and  undesigning  spirit,  the 
central  thought  of  Buddhism  is  as  good  an  explana- 
tion as  man  is  likely  to  forge.  There  will  come 
a time,  too,  when  the  great  experiment  of  demo- 
cracy has  failed,  as  it  probably  will  fail  with  unex- 
pected rapidity  ; when  men  will  ask  the  reason 
of  the  failure,  and  many  of  them  will  find  it  in  the 
contradiction  between  the  idea  of  equality  and  the 
instinctive  sense  of  justice  which  at  least  assigns 
a superior  reward  to  the  good.  Buddhism  does 
do  that. 

We  wonder  if  the  worst  idea  of  Asia,  that 
morality  has  no  immutable  basis,  but  is  a fluctuat- 
ing law  dependent  upon  some  inexplicable  relation 
between  the  individual  and  the  Creator,  or  the 
individual  and  the  All,  will  ever  come  over  here. 
The  Indian  holds  that  a line  of  conduct  may  be 
right  for  one  man,  or  indeed  imperative,  but  wrong 
for  another,  or  indeed  insufferable  ; that  a world- 
wide law  is  unthinkable  ; and  that  each  man  will 
be  judged  because  of  his  obedience  to  some  law 
external  to  himself,  yet  peculiar  to  his  own  per- 
sonality. The  king’s  obligation  to  the  Divine  is 
not  the  peasant’s  ; the  ordinary  Brahmin  must  be 
monogamous,  while  the  Koolin  Brahmin  may  have 
sixty  wives  ; the  trader  may  cheat  where  the  carrier 


THE  REFLEX  EFFECT  OF  ASIATIC  IDEAS  143 


must  keep  contract ; the  usual  Hindoo  must  spare 
life,  while  the  Thug  may  take  it  and  yet  remain 
sinless.  That  opinion  subverts  the  very  founda- 
tions of  morality  and  conduct ; yet  there  are  subtle 
minds  that  hold  it,  and  Europe  once  showed  a 
curious  tendency  in  the  same  direction.  Different 
moral  laws  were  held  to  bind  different  classes,  a 

notion  still  surviving  and  active  whenever  the 

conduct  of  clergymen  is  called  in  question.  We 

have  never  been  able  to  trace  the  genesis  of  that 

notion,  which  has  been,  as  it  were,  intercalated  into 
Hindooism,  and  suspect  it  of  not  being  a religious 
idea  at  all,  but  one  born  of  convenience  and  allowed 
a religious  sanction,  because  a non-religious  idea, 
an  idea  which  is  useful  and  received,  yet  excepted 
from  Divine  sanction,  is  impossible  to  the  Hindoo 
mind.  Nothing  can  be  tolerable  and  yet  outside 
that  system.  We  have  little  fear  of  the  idea  in 
Europe,  which  recoils  from  it  more  and  more, 
tending  always  towards  equality,  at  least  in  fetters, 
be  they  for  good  or  evil ; but  we  have  some  appre- 
hension of  the  last  Asiatic  idea,  which  we  shall 
mention  as  likely  to  be  imported.  This  is  the 
notion  of  man’s  irresponsibility  for  anything  but  his 
individual  conduct,  for  the  general  system  of  things 
as  it  exists  around  him.  That,  says  and  thinks  the 
Asiatic,  is  the  work  of  superior  powers,  and  no 
more  to  be  modified  than  the  procession  of  the 
seasons ; and  but  that  human  nature  is  weak,  he 
would  no  more  resist  it  than  a true  Mussulman 


1 44 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


would  effect  an  insurance  on  his  ship.  The  sub- 
missiveness of  Asia  to  evils  that  could  be  remedied 
springs  ultimately  from  that,  and  is  because  of  that 
nearly  incurable.  The  genuine  Asiatic,  uncorrupted 
by  white  teaching,  considers  that  which  is  as  the 
will  of  God,  and  leaves  it  to  Him  to  alter.  Why 
put  a lightning-conductor  by  the  Mosque  ? God, 
if  He  pleases,  can  take  care  of  His  own  ; and  if  He 
does  not  please,  of  what  use  to  try  and  thwart 
His  will  ? The  Mussulman  avowedly  holds  that 
theory,  but  there  is  not  an  Asiatic  free  of  it,  even 
the  strong-willed  Chinaman  yielding  to  it  almost, 
though  not  quite  entirely.  The  combative  energy 
of  the  European,  who  when  roused  to  consciousness 
will  put  up  with  nothing,  and  who  has  the  stimulus 
of  living  on  a continent  in  which  the  powers  of 
Nature  are  comparatively  feeble,  has  kept  him  from 
this  soporific  belief;  but  take  away  from  him  a 
little  hope — and  the  resistless  strength  of  democracy 
may  take  some  away,  as  it  is  doing  from  Americans 
— or  increase  by  a little  his  impression  that  “ God 
has  no  need  of  human  aid  ” — an  impression  of  all 
the  more  rigid  Calvinists  and  Quakers — and  he 
would  sink  back,  reluctantly  but  certainly,  to  the 
submissiveness  of  Asia,  amid  which  it  is  felt  to 
be  wrong  even  to  lament  the  flood  when  superior 
forces  made  the  waters  swell.  We  shall  not  see 
it  in  our  time,  for  the  energy  of  the  white  races, 
whose  reign  is  comparatively  new,  is  still  unex- 
hausted, and  they  have  the  spirit  of  the  Titans, 


THE  REFLEX  EFFECT  OF  ASIATIC  IDEAS  145 


who  thought  even  Olympus  might  be  stormed  ; but 
there  are  times  when  ideas  which  soothe  are  readily 
received,  and  ideas  which  are  readily  received  are 
terribly  strong.  The  dream  of  the  right  of  all 
men  to  everything  they  want,  which  is  a mere 
thought  unsupported  by  evidence,  or  rather,  denied 
by  the  ever-present  evidence  that  the  earth  yields 
food  only  in  return  for  human  sweat,  and  that  every 
human  being  lives  under  sentence  of  capital  punish- 
ment, is  already  shaking  the  very  foundations  of 
European  society.  Thought  is  stronger  than  armies, 
even  when  it  is  as  baseless  as  the  main  thought 
of  the  Buddhist  creed. 


L 


The  Mental  Seclusion  of  India 

THE  Times , in  a leader  upon  that  wonder- 
ful record  the  new  “ Census  of  India,”  the 
details  of  which  have  just  come  home,  calls  atten- 
tion once  more  to  one  of  the  greatest  puzzles 
presented  to  observers  by  this  perplexing  world. 
The  English  have  held  the  first  position  in  India 
for  1 24  years,  taking  Plassey  as  our  date,  and 
have  governed  it  for  seventy-eight  years,  taking 
Assaye  as  the  commencement  of  recognized  ascend- 
ency. Never  100,000  in  number,  including  soldiers, 
the  Anglo-Indians  now  tax,  guide,  and  govern 
250,000,000  of  human  beings,  a fifth  of  the 
population  of  the  world,  so  quietly  that  the  most 
trumpery  riot  sets  all  India  in  commotion,  and  that 
a habit  has  grown  up  of  recording  border  forays  by 
telegraph,  as  if  they  were  important,  or  were  even 
heard  of  in  the  endless  Indian  world.  The  Anglo- 
Indians  dwell  among  these  people,  they  talk  their 
tongues,  they  do  all  manner  of  business  with  them, 
they  govern  them  in  all  external  relations  of  life, 
they  fill  their  houses  with  them,  they  live  by  giving 
them  advice  and  orders,  and  yet  they  know  next  to 

146 


THE  MENTAL  SECLUSION  OF  INDIA  147 


nothing  about  them.  In  the  whole  century  of 
intercourse  no  Anglo-Indian,  whether  official  or 
adventurer,  has  ever  written  a book  which  in  the 
least  degree  revealed  to  his  countrymen  the  inner 
character,  or  wishes,  or  motives  of  any  considerable 
section,  or  any  great  single  class,  of  this  immensely 
numerous  people.  Nobody  has  explained  their 
special  ideas  of  justice,  or  of  property,  or  of  a 
pleasant  social  life,  or  described  what  they  expect 
or  what  they  deprecate,  or  even  what  they  think 
about  the  people  which  rules  them,  in  its  ignorance, 
with  such  apparent  ease  and  acquiescence.  That 
Europeans  are,  with  personal  exceptions,  by  nature 
and  the  will  of  God,  stupid,  is  the  single  broad  idea 
which  has  ever  clearly  emerged  from  the  sea  of  the 
native  mind.  It  is  as  certain  as  any  fact  of  the 
kind  can  be,  that  any  Anglo-Indian  who  wrote  a 
book  perceived  to  be  a “ revealing  ” book  about 
Indians,  or  any  section  of  them,  would,  as  his 
reward,  receive  fortune,  reputation  among  his 
contemporaries,  fame  with  posterity ; and  yet  no 
Anglo-Indian  has  ever  done  it,  or,  so  far  as  appears, 
ever  will  do  it.  Considering  the  temptation,  and 
the  number  and  variety  of  Englishmen  in  India, 
and  the  extraordinary  success  of  many  of  them  in 
work  apparently  requiring  as  its  necessary  datum 
a comprehension  of  the  people,  the  only  possible 
explanation  of  that  reticence  is  that  the  Anglo- 
Indians  do  not  understand,  and  know  that  they  do 
not  understand,  the  people  whom,  nevertheless,  they 


148 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


govern  successfully.  And  what  is  the  solution  of 
that  mystery  ? That  it  exists  is  past  all  question 
and  also  that  it  exists  in  the  same  degree  in  India 
alone.  The  Chinese  are  not  so  hidden  from  us  as 
are  the  Indians  of  Asia ; while  the  Indians  of 
Spanish  America,  though  hidden  from  us,  are  not 
hidden  from  the  Spaniards,  who  live  among  them. 

We  have  no  full  answer  to  give,  for  the  problem, 
after  thirty  years  of  thought  about  it,  remains  to  us 
as  impenetrable  as  ever ; but  we  can,  we  think, 
contribute  some  facts,  or  ideas  about  facts,  which 
may  make  its  existence  a little  less  wonderful  and 
bewildering.  In  the  first  place,  the  suggestion  that 
because  the  Anglo-Indian  governs  successfully, 
therefore  he  understands  the  people  he  governs, 
is,  we  believe,  fundamentally  erroneous.  The 
British  Empire  in  India  is  not  a marvellous  example 
of  the  possibility  of  one  race  fitting  its  ideas  to  those 
of  another  race,  adapting  means  to  ends,  or  making 
laws  specially  suited  to  those  who  obey  them,  at  all, 
but  something  widely  different.  It  is  the  most 
marvellous  example  the  world  has  ever  seen  of  the 
possibility  of  governing  human  beings  through 
abstract  principles,  when  those  principles  include 
impartial  justice,  perfect  tolerance,  and  the  most 
absolute  respect,  not  only  for  personal  freedom,  but 
for  personal  idiosyncrasy.  The  great  Civilian  who 
suddenly,  and  by  a sort  of  magic,  pacifies  a newly- 
acquired  province,  till  three  millions  of  swordsmen 
not  only  obey  him,  but  honour  and  in  a way  love 


THE  MENTAL  SECLUSION  OF  INDIA  149 


him,  very  often  does  not  understand  the  hearts  of 
the  men  he  governs  in  the  least  degree,  and  will 
admit  to  intimate  friends  that  he  does  not  under- 
stand them.  They  will,  he  believes,  do  so  and  so  ; 
but  “ there  is  an  element  of  the  unknown  or  the 
capricious,  if  you  like,  in  all  native  minds,  never  to 
be  quite  left  out  of  the  account.  ” What  he  does  under- 
stand thoroughly  are  justice,  tolerance,  mercy,  and 
the  use  of  firmness  ; and  he  applies  those  principles 
steadily,  fearlessly,  and  with  a certain  respect  for 
logic  seldom  displayed  by  his  own  caste  in  Europe. 
Every  Indian  is  guaranteed  his  life,  his  liberty,  his 
property,  and  his  honour ; every  man  who  breaks 
the  law  is  hunted  down,  every  man  who  observes 
the  law  is  let  alone,  let  him  do  or  say  or  believe 
whatsoever  he  may.  As  the  native  universally 
approves  those  principles  when  applied,  he  desists 
from  dangerous  opposition  and  becomes,  so  rapidly 
that  the  change  is  almost  scenic,  a quiet  citizen  ; 
and  the  intellectual  qualities  of  the  Civilian  who  has 
tamed  him  are  extolled  to  the  skies.  They  have 
done  very  little  for  him,  nevertheless.  It  is  the 
moral  qualities  which  have  prevailed,  and  which 
gave  as  quick  a result  to  Clive,  who  could  speak  no 
word  of  any  native  tongue,  as  to  the  last  competi- 
tion-wallah who  boasts,  perhaps  with  truth,  that  he 
could  play  at  a native  gaming-table  and  never  be 
known  for  a white  man.  The  problem  is,  therefore, 
reduced  by  this,  that  the  Anglo-Indian  ruler  does 
not  show  at  one  and  the  same  time  knowledge  and 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


iS® 

ignorance,  that  he  rules  successfully  by  knowing 
other  things  than  the  inner  minds  of  the  population, 
which  he  is  confessedly  so  unable  to  interpret.  He 
is  simply  ignorant,  and  not  a thoroughly  instructed 
man  who  is  also  an  ignoramus. 

This  truth,  however,  though  it  renders  the  problem 
far  less  unique,  and,  as  it  were,  mysterious,  still  does 
not  reduce  its  size.  The  Anglo-Indian  ruler  lives 
among  the  people  longer  than  Mr.  Hamerton  lived 
among  Frenchmen,  or  Mr.  Ford  among  Spaniards, 
or  Mr.  Finlay  among  Greeks,  lives  often  thirty 
years,  knows  the  language,  passes  six  hours  a day 
in  conversation  with  natives,  resides  among  them,  in 
fact,  and  still  does  not  understand  them.  How  is 
that  ? The  true  answer  is  that  all  this  does  not 
happen  in  the  sense  the  words  suggest,  that  the 
Civilian  or  adventurer  does  not  reside  among  the 
Indian  people  at  all,  but  only  on  the  spot  where 
the  Indian  people  also  abide, — a very  different 
thing.  There  is  he,  and  there  are  they,  but  they 
are  fenced  off  from  each  other  by  an  invisible, 
impalpable,  but  impassable  wall,  as  rigid  and  as 
inexplicable  as  that  which  divides  the  master  from 
his  dog,  the  worshipping  coach-dog  from  the  wor- 
shipped horse,  the  friendly  spaniel  from  the  acquies- 
cent cat.  The  wall  is  not,  as  we  believe,  difference 
of  manners,  or  of  habits,  or  of  modes  of  association, 
for  those  difficulties  have  all  been  conquered  by 
officials,  travellers,  missionaries,  and  others,  in 
places  like  China,  where  the  external  difference  is 


THE  MENTAL  SECLUSION  OF  INDIA  15 1 


so  much  greater.  They  have,  indeed,  been  con- 
quered by  individuals  even  in  India  itself,  where 
many  men — especially  missionaries,  who  are  not 
feared — do  live  in  as  friendly  and  frequent  inter- 
course with  Indians,  as  they  would  with  their  own 
people  at  home.  The  wall  is  less  material  than 
that,  and  is  raised  mainly  by  the  Indian  himself 
who,  whatever  his  profession,  or  grade,  or  occupa- 
tion, deliberately  secludes  his  mind  from  the 
European,  with  a jealous,  minute,  and  persistent 
care,  of  which  probably  no  man  not  gifted  with  an 
insight  like  that  of  Thackeray  could  succeed  in 
giving  even  a remote  idea.  He  will  talk  easily, 
familiarly,  and  if  he  likes  his  interlocutor,  most 
pleasantly,  showing  constantly  a disposition  towards 
humour,  playfulness,  and  even  rough  jocularity, 
which,  somehow,  travellers  never  suspect,  and,  as 
far  as  we  know,  have  never  described  in  natives  of 
India.  A woman  now  and  then  has  perceived  it 
among  women,  and  has  mentioned  it  : but,  so  far  as 
we  know,  no  man  has  recorded  this,  the  pleasantest 
of  all  the  many  specialities  in  the  native  mind, — 
an  inexhaustible  amount  of  grave,  sweet,  easily- 
moved  humorousness.  But  in  his  most  facile 
moments  the  Indian  never  unlocks  his  mind,  never 
puts  it  to  yours,  never  reveals  his  real  thought, 
never  stands  with  his  real  and  whole  character 
confessed,  like  the  Western  European.  You  may 
know  a bit  of  it,  the  dominant  passion,  the  ruling 
temper,  even  the  reigning  prejudice,  but  never  the 


XS2 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


whole  of  it.  After  the  intercourse  of  years,  your 
Indian  friend  knows  you  better,  perhaps,  than  you 
know  yourself,  especially  on  your  weaker  side ; but 
you  only  know  him  as  you  know  a character  in  a 
second-rate  novel,  that  is,  know  as  much  as  the 
author  has  been  able  to  reveal,  but  never  quite  the 
whole.  In  exceptional  cases,  quite  exceptional,  you 
may  know  as  much  as  you  know  of  Hamlet,  know 
so  much,  that  is,  that  you  could  write  a book  of 
reflections  upon  the  character  ; but  you  will  still  be 
aware  of  the  supreme  puzzle,  that  you  know  all  of 
Hamlet  but  Hamlet.  This  seclusion  of  the  mind  is 
universal,  runs  through  every  grade,  exists  under  any 
intimacy,  and  is  acknowledged  by  every  thoughtful 
European  in  India  about  those  natives  upon  whom 
he  relies,  often  justifiably,  with  a confidence  as 
profound  as  his  reliance  upon  the  most  trustworthy 
of  his  English  friends ; and  we  believe,  on  the 
testimony  of  one  of  the  few  cultivated  Europeans 
who  ever  lived  happily  with  a native  wife,  that  it 
extends  to  both  sexes.  The  why  of  this  mental 
seclusion,  the  cause  which  induces  a native  of  India, 
intelligent,  inquisitive,  and  hungry  for  knowledge, 
not  only  able  to  converse,  but  eager  to  converse, 
to  keep  his  mind  in  a casket,  is  the  single  puzzle 
of  the  situation  which  so  perplexes  the  Times , and 
every  one  of  the  very  few  Europeans  who  has 
so  far  overcome  the  sense  of  despair  and  bewilder- 
ment always  excited  by  the  immensity  of  the  native 
problem,  as  to  look  the  perplexity  fairly  in  the  face. 


THE  MENTAL  SECLUSION  OF  INDIA  153 


We  certainly  cannot  solve  it,  though  we  are 
going  to  state  in  all  humility  a theory  in 
which  we  believe,  which,  if  correct,  partly  explains 
it,  and  which  will,  at  least,  interest  the  dreamier 
minds  among  our  readers.  We  doubt  if  any  Euro- 
pean ever  fully  realizes  how  great  the  mental  effect 
of  the  segregativeness,  the  separation  into  atoms,  of 
Indian  society,  continued,  as  it  has  been,  for  three 
thousand  unbroken  years,  has  actually  been.  We 
speak  of  that  society  as  “ divided  into  castes,”  but  it 
is,  and  has  always  been,  divided  into  far  more 
minute  divisions  or  crystals,  each  in  a way  complete, 
but  each  absolutely  separated  from  its  neighbour 
by  rules,  laws,  prejudices,  traditions,  and  principles 
of  ceremonial  purity,  which,  in  the  aggregate,  form 
impassable  lines  of  demarcation.  It  is  not  the 
European  to  whom  the  Indian  will  not  reveal  him- 
self, but  mankind,  outside  a circle  usually  wonder- 
fully small,  and  often  a single  family,  from  whom  he 
mentally  retreats.  His  first  preoccupation  in  life  is 
to  keep  his  “ caste,”  his  separateness,  his  ceremonial 
purity,  from  any  contact  with  any  other  equally 
separate  crystal ; and  in  that  preoccupation,  per- 
manent and  all-absorbing  for  thousands  of  years,  he 
has  learnt  to  shroud  his  inner  mind,  till  in  revealing 
it  he  feels  as  if  he  were  revealing  some  shrine  which 
it  is  blasphemy  to  open,  as  if  he  had  earned  from 
Heaven  the  misfortune  he  thinks  sure  to  follow. 
It  is  not  “ timidity,”  as  the  Times  suggests, 
which  impels  him,  but  an  instinct  of  segregation, 


J54 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


created  partly  by  timidity,  partly  by  superstition, 
and  partly  by  a kind  of  mental  shrinking,  the  result 
of  ages,  during  which  he  has  been  taught,  and  has 
fully  believed,  that  only  in  segregation  can  cere- 
monial purity,  and,  therefore,  the  favour  of  the 
Superior  Powers,  and,  therefore,  Heaven,  be 
secured.  The  words  involve  a contradiction  in 
terms,  but  if  we  could  imagine  a Catholic  priesthood 
hereditary  for  two  thousand  years,  yet  always 
trained  as  priests  are  in  a good  seminary,  we  should, 
we  fancy,  find  men  with  instinctive  mental  reserves, 
reticences,  concealments,  silences,  such  as  Europeans 
note  in  natives  of  India,  and  such  as  so  often  render 
even  a native  opinion  on  a native  character  or  career 
quite  nugatory.  The  crystal  can  touch  the  crystal, 
but  neither  can  get  rid  of  the  facets  which  so  abso- 
lutely prohibit  junction.  That  is  true,  no  doubt,  of 
all  minds.  The  loneliness  of  each  mind  is  one  of 
the  burdens  humanity  must  bear  with  resignation  ; 
but  that  loneliness  has  been  increased  in  the  Indian 
by  the  discipline  of  ages,  until  it  is  not  an  incident, 
but  the  first  essential  of  his  character. 


The  Great  Arabian 


The  Life  of  Mahommed.  By  W.  Muir,  B.C.S.  London  : 
Smith,  Elder  & Co. 

ITH  these  two  volumes  Mr.  Muir  has 


review  of  the  former  half  of  the  work  we  com- 
mented slightly  on  its  obvious  defects,  an  occasional 
indifference  to  sound  canons  of  evidence,  and  a 
tendency  to  overrate  the  undoubted  value  of 
unbroken  tradition.  But,  reading  his  work  as  a 
whole,  we  are  half  disposed  to  retract  even  those 
gentle  animadversions  in  our  keen  appreciation  of 
the  duty  he  has  so  successfully  performed.  His 
book  is  a distinct  addition,  if  not  to  human  at 
least  to  English  learning ; and  the  books  of  which 
that  can  be  said  are  so  few,  that  the  inclination 
to  criticize,  however  just,  is  almost  forgotten  in 
the  rich  pleasure  of  new  and  perfected  knowledge. 
Our  business  just  now  is  not  with  Mr.  Muir, 
but  with  the  great  Arabian  whose  life  he  has 
undertaken  to  narrate,  and  we  may  therefore  state 
at  once  in  what  we  conceive  the  special  merit  of 
this  biography  to  consist.  It  is  not  a history  of  Ma- 
hommedanism,  or  a diatribe  against  Mahommed,  or 


worthily  completed  a great  task.  In  a 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


156 

even  an  analysis  of  the  special  influence  Mahommed’s 
opinions  have  exercised  on  the  world.  There  are 
books  of  that  sort  enough  and  to  spare,  and  the 
effect  of  them  all  has  been  to  shroud  the  life  of 
their  hero  in  that  dim  cathedral  gloom  which  covers 
as  with  a mist  the  lives  of  all  great  religious 
teachers,  and  through  which  their  forms  and  acts 
are  only  fitfully  apparent.  The  real  life  of  the 
man,  the  successive  steps  by  which  he  attained 
power,  the  influences  which  produced  his  opinions, 
and  the  circumstances  which,  if  they  did  not  pro- 
duce hhn,  at  least  allowed  full  scope  for  his  grand 
and  consecutive  action,  are  lost  in  a cloud  of  opinions 
till  the  bewildered  Englishman  falls  back  on 
Gibbon’s  imperfect  but  lucid  narrative  a.s  a relief 
from  the  deluge  of  mere  commentary.  It  is  as 
difficult  to  extract  any  notion  of  Mahommed’s  actual 
life  from  the  majority  of  books  about  him,  as  to 
compile  a life  of  Kant  from  the  libraries  written  on 
the  Kantian  philosophy.  Mr.  Muir  has  avoided 
that  gross  mistake.  His  work  is  a real  life,  a life 
as  minute,  as  reasonable,  and,  with  an  exception 
here  and  there,  as  impartial,  as  if  Mahommed  had 
been  only  a king,  a great  politician,  or  a successful 
leader  of  revolution.  The  development  of  the  man 
is  shown  as  much  as  his  full  maturity.  The  slow 
and  painful  efforts  by  which  he  rose  to  power  in 
Medina,  the  almost  as  slow  operations  by  which 
he  first  subdued  and  then  amalgamated  the  clans 
of  the  desert  into  one  mighty  and  aggressive 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN  157 

dominion,  are  set  forth  with  a patient  accuracy, 
which  rather  increases  than  weakens  their  native 
dramatic  force.  The  reader  sees  clearly,  without 
being  directly  taught,  how  far  Mahommed  was 
indebted  to  existing  circumstances,  and  how  far 
to  his  own  genius,  and  discerns  for  the  first  time 
the  true  influence  of  that  strange  personnel , slaves 
and  chiefs  of  clans,  relatives  and  hereditary  foes, 
among  whom  the  prophet  had  to  pass  his  daily 
and  outer  life.  He  comes  to  regard  Mahommed  at 
last  in  his  true  light,  as  a great  man,  instead  of  a 
mere  abstraction,  to  predict  his  action  in  his  own 
mind  as  a new  obstacle  reveals  itself,  to  feel  some- 
thing of  that  glow  of  personal  interest  with  which 
a clever  boy  traces  the  conquests  of  Alexander,  or 
exults  and  desponds  with  the  alternating  fortunes  of 
Cortez  or  Christopher  Columbus. 

To  create  such  an  impression  about  any  man  is 
no  mean  triumph ; but  to  elicit  it  of  Mahommed  is  a 
positive  gain  to  the  generation  among  whom  it  is 
produced.  In  the  whole  compass  of  knowledge, 
looking  down  all  that  stately  line  of  figures  whose 
mere  names  serve  as  the  best  landmarks  of  human 
history,  there  is  not  one  whose  life  better  deserves 
to  be  known,  to  become,  as  some  of  Shakespeare’s 
characters  have  become,  an  integral  part  of  thought 
rather  than  a subject  for  thought,  than  that  of  the 
great  Arabian.  That  a man’s  opinions  should 
circulate  widely,  survive  himself,  and  help  to  modify 
human  action  for  ages  after  he  is  forgotten,  is, 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


158 


though  a wonderful,  not  an  infrequent,  phenomenon. 
That  a man,  obscure  in  all  but  birth,  brought  up 
among  an  unlettered  race,  with  no  learning  and  no 
material  resources,  should  by  sheer  force  of  genius 
extinguish  idolatry  through  a hundred  tribes,  unite 
them  into  one  vast  aggressive  movement,  and,  dying, 
leave  to  men  who  were  not  his  children  the  mastery 
of  the  Oriental  world, — even  this  career,  however 
wondrous,  is  not  absolutely  unique.  But  that  a man 
of  this  kind,  living  humbly  among  his  equals,  should 
stamp  on  their  minds  the  conviction  that  he  whom 
they  saw  eat,  and  drink,  and  sleep,  and  commit 
blunders,  was  the  vicegerent  of  the  Almighty ; 
that  his  system  should  survive  himself  for  twelve 
centuries  as  a living  missionary  force ; 1 that  it 
should  not  merely  influence  but  utterly  remould 
one-fourth  of  the  human  race,  and  that  fourth  the 
unchangeable  one ; that  it  should  after  twelve 
centuries  still  be  so  vital  that  an  Asiatic,  base 
to  a degree  no  European  can  comprehend,  should 
still,  if  appealed  to  in  the  name  of  Mahommed,  start 
up  a hero,  fling  away  life  with  a glad  laugh  of 
exultation,  or  risk  a throne  to  defend  a guest ; that 
after  that  long  period,  when  its  stateliest  empires 
have  passed  away,  and  its  greatest  achievements 

1 Mahommedanism  is  still  widely  propagated  in  India  and  Africa. 
In  Africa  it  is  marching  south,  and  in  India  its  gains  are  supposed 
to  counterbalance  its  losses  everywhere  else.  In  Bengal  alone  the 
converts  number  thousands  yearly,  and  one  of  the  most  serious 
dangers  of  the  Government  arises  from  the  frantic  zeal  of  the  new 
converts  made  by  the  Ferazee  Mussulmans. 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


J59 


have  been  forgotten,  it  should  still  be  the  only 
force  able  to  hurl  Western  Asia  on  the  iron  civiliza- 
tion of  Europe  ; this  indeed  is  a phenomenon  men 
of  every  creed  and  generation  will  at  least  be  wise 
to  consider.  What  this  Mahommed  was,  and  what 
he  did,  is  a question  the  masters  of  the  second 
Mahommedan  kingdom  may  well  think  as  important 
as  Pompey’s  intrigues  or  Diocletian’s  policy,  and  it 
is  this  which  Mr.  Muir  has  enabled  them  for  the 
first  time  fully  to  comprehend.  There  is  much  to 
be  told  besides,  and  libraries  will  yet  be  exhausted 
in  the  description  of  all  the  effects  which  this  man’s 
life  produced  on  the  world  ; but  of  the  life  itself,  of 
the  manner  of  man  Mahommed  was,  of  the  deeds 
he  really  did,  and  of  the  things  he  can  be  proved 
to  have  said,  no  man  who  can  read  Mr.  Muir’s 
book  need  henceforward  remain  ignorant.  We 
shall,  we  believe,  best  serve  our  readers  if  we 
reduce  for  them,  into  a few  pages,  some  idea  of 
the  life  of  the  great  man  who  is  here  presented. 
Our  object  in  so  doing,  like  Mr.  Muir’s,  will  not 
be  to  analyse  opinions,  except  so  far  as  they  are 
indispensable  to  a true  comprehension  of  his  acts, 
but  to  give  succinctly  an  accurate  account  of  his 
career,  passing  somewhat  lightly  over  the  history 
already  well  known  to  Europeans,  and  depicting 
more  in  detail  those  facts  which  intervened  between 
his  assumption  of  supernatural  knowledge  and  the 
complete  success  of  his  mission — an  interval  of  which 
the  popular  histories  make  one  unintelligible  jumble. 


i6o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Throughout,  it  is  as  the  great  Arabian — the  character 
in  which  he  is  not  known,  and  not  as  the  prophet, 
the  character  in  which  he  is  known — that  we  intend 
to  consider  him. 

Mahommed  was  born  at  Mecca  in  the  autumn  of 
the  year  570  a.d.  ; the  posthumous  son  of  Abdallah, 
a younger  son  of  the  hereditary  chief  of  the  Koreish 
clan,  and  therefore  of  the  highest  and  purest  blood 
possible  in  Arabia,  of  the  only  blood,  in  fact,  in 
which  resided  any  claim,  however  slight,  to  supe- 
riority throughout  the  entire  peninsula.  English- 
men, deceived  by  the  epithet  “ camel-driver,”  so 
often  applied  to  Mahommed,  are  accustomed  to  con- 
sider him  low-born,  and,  indeed,  so  greatly  underrate 
both  his  own  position  and  that  of  his  country,  that 
it  is  necessary  to  expend  a few  words  in  showing  to 
what  he  really  was  born.  Arabia,  then,  is  not  what 
Englishmen  habitually  conceive  it  to  be,  a mere 
sandy  desert,  flat  as  sands  generally  are,  traversed 
by  bands  of  half-starved  horsemen,  with  two  little 
but  sacred  cities,  and  a port  which  an  English 
frigate  can  reduce  to  reason  by  a bombardment.  It 
is  a vast,  though  secluded,  peninsula,  with  an  area 
100,000  square  miles  greater  than  that  of  Europe 
west  of  the  Vistula — greater,  that  is,  than  the  terri- 
tories of  four  of  the  five  Powers,  with  Germany, 
Spain,  Portugal,  Greece,  Scandinavia,  Poland,  and 
Italy  added  thereto.  This  enormous  region,  so  far 
from  being  a mere  sandy  plain,  is  traversed  by  high 
ranges  of  mountains,  filled  with  broad  plateaus, 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


161 


many  of  them  as  wide  as  European  kingdoms,  and 
full  of  magnificent,  though  dreary  and  awe-inspiring, 
scenery.  The  highest  Arab  tribes — and  the  point 
is  one  too  often  forgotten — are  mountaineers ; share 
in  the  fervid  imagination,  the  brooding  and  melan- 
choly thought,  which  have  in  all  ages  distinguished 
men  bred  on  the  higher  regions  of  the  earth.  Even 
the  aridity  of  the  soil  of  Arabia,  though  great,  is,  as  a 
political  fact,  seriously  exaggerated,  partly  because  the 
districts  nearest  to  civilization  are  the  worst,  partly 
because  travellers  select  the  winter  for  explorations 
— a time  when  even  the  fertile  plains  of  Upper  India 
look  hideously  desolate ; but  chiefly  because  the 
European  mind  has  a difficulty  in  realizing  territorial 
vastness,  or  comprehending  how  enormous  may  be 
the  aggregate  of  patches  of  cultivation  spread  over 
a peninsula  like  Arabia.  When,  some  few  years 
ago,  the  Governor  of  Aden  was  permitted  to  visit 
Lahej,  he,  filled  like  all  other  Englishmen  with  the 
“ idea  ” of  Arabia,  was  startled  to  find  himself,  only 
a few  miles  from  his  own  crackling  cinders,  amidst 
pleasant  corn-lands  and  smiling  villages,  in  which 
dwelt  a population  showing  every  sign  of  prosperity 
and  content.  There  are  thousands  of  such  spots  in 
Arabia,  to  which  the  eternal  boundary  of  the  desert 
blinds  all  but  the  keenest  observers.  In  such  oases, 
scattered  over  the  broad  plateaus  and  down  the  arid 
slopes,  and  amidst  the  half-watered  valleys,  dwelt, 
in  the  time  of  Mahommed,  a series  of  clans,  divided 
politically  as  much  as  the  modern  nations  of  Europe. 

M 


162 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


What  the  aggregate  of  their  numbers  may  have 
been  is  a point  which  for  ages  to  come  must 
remain  uncertain.  Orientals  object  to  counting,  and 
similes  derived  from  the  stars  and  the  sands  by  the 
sea-shore  satisfy  only  the  imagination.  Burckhardt 
believed  them  to  be  fourteen  millions,  and,  tried  by 
the  only  test  observers  can  apply,  that  number  is 
within  the  truth.  It  is  nearly  certain,  that  at  one 
time  during  the  second  great  outflow  to  conquer  the 
world,  Arabia  had  more  than  a million  and  a hah 
of  her  children  scattered  over  Western  Asia  and  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  They  colonized 
wherever  they  conquered ; and  from  Syria  to 
Tetuan,  through  a belt  of  country  a thousand  miles 
in  depth,  the  basis  of  the  population  is  still  Arabian. 
It  may  be  affirmed  safely  that  no  race  that  ever 
existed  ever  sent  ten  per  cent,  of  its  resident  popula- 
tion to  battle  at  once.  The  convention,  when  France 
was  in  its  death-grapple  with  all  Europe,  never  mus- 
tered, on  paper,  more  than  a million  of  men  round 
her  standards,  or  four  per  cent,  of  her  population. 
Allowing  for  the  impulse  of  poverty  as  stronger  in 
Arabia  than  in  France,  we  cannot  set  the  population 
of  the  peninsula  at  less  than  fifteen  millions,  while  it 
is  more  than  probable  that  it  greatly  exceeded  that 
number.  This  population  dwelt,  when  it  could,  in 
fenced  cities  and  strong  defensible  villages,  a section 
only  living  in  tents  and  the  desert.  The  clans 
fought,  and  negotiated  for  plunder  or  territory ; but 
their  wars,  though  constant  and  bloody,  were  not 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN  163 

internecine,  and  it  was  an  understood  rule  that 
conquerors  should  not  injure  property  more  than 
they  could  help,  fill  wells,  or  cut  down  palm-trees. 
They  had,  moreover,  some  strong  bonds  of  national 
cohesion.  The  tribes  all  spoke  one  tongue.  The 
great  majority  either  were,  or  fancied  themselves  to 
be,  of  one  blood.  They  had  one  form  of  worship 
— a cult,  not  a creed — which  compelled  them  to 
regard  Mecca  as  sacred,  and  the  Koreish,  as  the 
guardians  of  the  sacred  territory,  as  the  highest 
among  mankind.  Above  all,  they  had  but  one 
character  and  one  social  system.  They  were  not 
divided  by  the  democratic  idea  and  the  aristocratic 
idea,  by  religious  feeling  or  sceptical  feeling,  by  an 
antagonism  of  races  or  a conflict  of  classes.  Every 
Arab  was,  in  essentials,  like  every  other  : full  of 
poetry  and  sentiment,  with  the  greediness  which, 
among  poverty-stricken  races,  is  a passion ; with  a 
knowledge  of  traditionary  history,  and  consequently 
an  ingrained  reverence  for  pedigree ; brave,  accus- 
tomed to  arms,  and  carrying  the  point  of  honour — 
revenge  for  insult  or  injury  to  the  clan — almost  to 
ferocity.  All  united,  too,  in  the  moral  necessity  of 
maintaining  the  neutrality  of  Mecca,  and  in  respect- 
ing the  blood  of  Maadd,  the  chieftain  who,  just  one 
thousand  years  before,  had  rebuilt  the  power  of  a 
house  which  stretched  back  straight  to  Ishmael,  and 
dying,  left  Mecca  to  the  descendants  whom  the 
Arabs  call  the  Koreish. 

Mahommed,  therefore,  as  the  son  of  Abdallah  son 


164 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  Abdul  Mutalik,  chief  of  the  clan  Koreish,  was 
simply  a cadet  of  the  highest  aristocracy  in  a land  of 
aristocrats,  a man  of  the  only  tribe  from  which 
princes  could  be  expected  to  come ; a man  at  least 
as  well  born  as  the  descendants  of  any  house  in 
Europe  not  actually  on  a throne.  Poverty,  it  must 
be  remembered,  does  not  in  Asia  affect  pedigree.  A 
Brahmin  begging  is  greater  than  a Sudra  reigning  ; 
and,  though  born  poor  himself,  Mahommed  stood 
from  his  birth  armoured  in  wealthy  relatives  and 
highly  placed  kinsmen.  The  child  was  born  after  his 
father’s  death,  and,  according  to  a custom  still  pre- 
valent in  Arabia  among  the  population  of  the  cities, 
was  sent  at  once  into  the  desert  to  breathe  a freer 
air,  and  lived  for  five  years  with  a wandering  tribe 
called  by  the  Arabs  the  Sons  of  Saad.  In  the  fifth 
year,  Halima,  his  foster-mother,  though  fond  of  the 
child,  was  frightened  by  some  symptoms  of  epilepsy, 
and  restored  him  to  his  mother  Amina;  but  Ma- 
hommed never  forgot  the  kindness  he  had  received. 
Thirty  years  afterwards,  when  he  had  become  com- 
paratively wealthy,  he  raised  Halima  from  her 
poverty,  and,  after  the  lapse  of  half  a century,  the 
appeal  of  his  foster-father  instantly  sufficed  to  release 
his  clan,  while  his  adopted  relatives  were  offered 
wealth  and  position  at  their  will.  The  only  recorded 
incident  of  his  childhood,  apart  from  legends,  was  a 
visit  to  Medina  with  his  mother ; a visit  which 
stamped  itself  so  strongly  on  his  memory,  that  at 
fifty  he  remembered  every  detail.  On  her  return  she 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN  165 

died,  leaving  Mahommed,  still  a child,  to  the  care  of 
his  grandfather,  Abdul  Mutalik.  The  latter  speedily 
followed,  and  all  power  in  Mecca  passed  to  another 
branch  of  the  Koreish,  and  away  from  his  own  imme- 
diate connexions.  A wealthy  and  powerful  uncle, 
however,  Abu  Talib,  took  charge  of  the  boy,  and 
became  so  attached  to  him  that,  after  a life  passed 
in  struggles  on  his  behalf,  his  last  words  were  a 
prayer  to  his  kinsmen  to  protect  his  nephew.  With 
this  uncle  he  made  a journey  into  Syria,  then  a 
nominally  Christian  country,  and  took  some  part  in 
a feud  called  the  Sacrilegious  War,  because  it  began 
in  the  holy  month,  and  violated,  in  the  end,  the 
sacred  territory.  Every  year,  too,  he  was  present 
at  the  annual  fair  attended  by  Christians  from  Syria, 
Jews  from  the  neighbourhood,  and  representatives 
of  all  the  tribes  of  Arabia  ; and  listened,  as  he  tells 
us  in  the  Koran,  to  the  eloquent  preaching  of  the 
Syrian  Bishop  Koss,  and  to  the  orators  of  the  tribes 
as  they  contended  with  each  other  for  the  palm  of 
eloquence.  He  was  present  also  at  a scene  which, 
if  he  had  not  himself  proscribed  all  art,  his  followers 
in  after  ages  would  have  loved  to  paint.  Owing  to 
the  absence  of  any  central  authority,  Mecca  was  full 
of  disorder,  and  the  heads  of  four  sub-clans  of  the 
Koreish,  tired  of  the  misery  before  them,  met  to- 
gether at  night,  with  Mahommed  in  their  midst,  and 
swore  “by  the  avenging  Deity  to  take  the  part  of 
the  oppressed,  and  see  his  claim  fulfilled  so  long  as 
a drop  of  water  remained  in  the  ocean,  or  to  satisfy 


i66 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


the  claim  from  their  own  resources.”  Mahommed  in 
after  life  declared  that  he  would  not  lose  the  recol- 
lection of  having  been  present  when  that  oath  was 
taken  for  the  choicest  camel  in  all  Arabia.  Though 
thus  admitted  to  council  in  right  of  his  birth,  his 
daily  work  was  that  of  a shepherd,  an  office  then 
deemed  honourable,  and,  by  his  own  account,  he 
was  singularly  free  from  vice  of  every  kind.  The 
silent,  lonely  life  must  have  done  much  to  strengthen 
a mind  naturally  tender,  and  increase  that  habit  of 
brooding  thought  to  which  he  was  addicted  through 
life,  and  for  which  he  had  presently  an  ampler 
opportunity. 

Mahommed  was  twenty-five  years  old  before  any 
change  took  place  in  his  career  ; and  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  his  opinions  were  in  the 
smallest  degree  in  advance  of  those  entertained  by 
the  same  class  of  his  countrymen.  He  was  then 
asked  by  his  uncle  to  take  charge  of  a caravan, 
which  Khadijah,  a wealthy  widow  of  their  house, 
was  about  to  despatch  to  Syria.  He  accepted  the 
office,  and  travelled  to  Bostra,  a place  about  sixty 
miles  beyond  the  Jordan,  whence  he  returned  with- 
out adventure,  and  with  a fair  but  moderate  profit 
of  cent,  per  cent,  on  the  caravan.  None  of  this  profit 
was  for  himself;  but  during  the  journey  he  had 
gained  something  more  valuable  than  his  salary. 
That  royal  sweetness  of  nature  which  from  boyhood 
distinguished  Mahommed  had  so  impressed  a slave 
attached  to  the  caravan,  that,  on  his  return,  he 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


167 


besought  his  leader  to  present  himself  to  the  widow, 
with  the  tidings  of  his  successful  merchandise.  The 
slave  himself  never  tired  of  sounding  the  praises  of 
the  handsome  agent,  and  Khadijah,  a comely  widow, 
fell  deeply  in  love  with  him.  She  is  said  by  Arabs 
to  have  been  forty  ; but  as  she  subsequently  bore 
him  six  children,  her  age  has  been  probably  exag- 
gerated. She  gained  her  father’s  consent  while  he 
was  tipsy,  and  offered  Mahommed  marriage,  and  his 
instant  acceptance  raised  him  at  once  to  a place 
among  the  wealthy  men  of  the  city.  The  union  was 
a happy  one  for  thirty  years.  Khadijah  left  him 
entirely  to  his  meditations,  relieving  him  of  all  cares 
of  business ; and  Mahommed,  giving  full  swing  to  his 
natural  temperament,  wandered  incessantly  among 
the  mountains  which  overlook  Mecca,  feeding  his 
heart  with  reverie.  None  but  those  who  have  lived 
long  among  Asiatics  can  understand  how  an  Oriental 
mind  can  brood  over  an  idea.  It  is  perhaps  the 
most  marked  distinction  between  him  and  the 
Western  man  : the  European  thinks,  the  Oriental 
only  reflects,  and  if  left  to  himself  the  idea,  turned 
over  and  over  endlessly  in  his  mind,  hardens  into 
the  consistency  of  steel.  Thenceforward  it  is  part 
of  the  fibre  of  his  mind,  something  on  which  argu- 
ment is  lost,  on  which  he  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
circumstances,  bases  immediate  action.  Mahommed 
had  not,  as  the  popular  histories  aver,  given  himself 
up  to  inquiries  into  Christianity  and  Judaism,  nor  is 
there  any  evidence  that  he  ever  talked  with  a 


i68 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Christian  monk  named  Sergius  or  Nestorius,  nor 
had  he  ever  been  taught  by  a follower  of  the  Jewish 
Scripture  ; but  he  had  from  his  earliest  days  been 
surrounded  by  the  Jewish  tribes  settled  in  Arabia, 
and  had  learnt  vaguely  and  imperfectly  their  more 
imaginative  traditions,  derived,  it  would  seem,  from 
the  source  whence  Josephus  derived  his  antiquities. 
We  conjecture  this  from  the  frequent  recurrence  of 
names  which  exist  in  Josephus’s  account,  and  not  in 
the  Law  he  professed  to  follow.  He  had  also  talked 
with  Christian  slaves,  particularly  an  acute  Greek, 
who  became  a disciple ; and  his  mind  brooded  over 
the  possibility  of  reconciling  these  creeds  with  the 
pagan  cult  of  Arabia.  Gradually,  perhaps  very 
early,  a horror  of  idol-worship  arose  in  his  mind,  a 
belief  in  one  true,  impersonal,  and  absolute  Deity, 
so  strong  and  vivid  as  to  colour  his  entire  future 
life.  How  long  his  faith  was  in  development,  he 
has  not  informed  us ; but,  once  developed,  it  took 
entire  possession  of  his  mind.  Brooding  for  months 
in  solitude  on  the  tops  of  the  Hira  range,  he  gradu- 
ally obtained  that  ecstatic  conviction,  which  in  better 
creeds  their  followers  term  conversion,  and  with 
that  conviction  came  the  impression  that  it  had 
been  given  for  a purpose  ; that  he  had  been  selected 
to  become  the  Messenger  of  the  Most  High,  to 
preach  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  unto  all  mankind. 
Thenceforward  he  esteemed  himself  a specially 
chosen  instrument,  one  whose  reveries  were  revela- 
tions ; and  throughout  his  further  life,  under  the 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


169 


most  extreme  temptation,  and  in  the  darkest  adver- 
sity, Mahommed  never  for  a moment  swerved  from 
his  central  belief : “ God  is  the  God  : I am  the  Sent 
of  God.”  When,  years  after,  he  lay  hidden  in  a 
cave,  with  the  footsteps  of  his  pursuers  sounding 
overhead,  and  Abu  Bekr  his  only  companion,  he 
cheered  his  friend  with  the  calm  assurance  that 
though  they  were  but  two,  God  was  the  third. 
When  a great  tribe  offered  to  follow  him,  and  give 
him  the  sway  of  a third  of  Arabia  if  he  would  leave 
to  its  chief  some  section  of  authority,  he  calmly 
answered,  “ Not  one  green  date.”  How  could 
authority  be  shared  with  the  Messenger  of  the  Most 
High  ? This,  and  not  the  doctrine  ot  conversion 
by  the  sword,  was  what  he  announced  to  his  house- 
hold ; and  it  is  perhaps  the  most  marvellous  fact  in 
his  history,  that  the  three  nearest  to  him,  nearer 
than  any  valet  ever  was  to  his  master,  accepted  his 
assurance  of  Divine  commission.  Khadijah  his 
wife,  Ali  his  nephew,  and  Zeid  his  freedman, 
believed  in  his  mission,  treasured  up  the  bursts  of 
mystic  poetry  in  which  his  first  convictions  were 
expressed,  and  after  twenty  years  of  suffering,  pro- 
tracted through  every  conceivable  variety  of  disaster, 
remained  steadfast  in  the  faith  that  this  man  was 
verily  sent  of  God. 

It  was  in  the  forty-fourth  year  of  his  age  (a.d. 
614)  that  Mahommed  first  announced  to  the  sneering 
Meccans  that  God  had  elected  him  Prophet  of  a 
Faith,  which  as  its  first  step  involved  their  secular 


170 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ruin.  Their  importance  depended  on  their  char- 
acter as  hereditary  guardians  of  Ozza  and  Lat,  the 
two  idols  of  the  sacred  shrine.  If  idolatry  were  a 
crime  their  office  ended,  and  with  it  their  rank  in 
Arabia,  the  rich  tribute  of  the  tribes,  the  gains  of 
the  central  mart,  and  the  incalculable  advantage 
of  the  one  city  which  no  Arab  dared  attack.  In 
exchange  for  this  they  were  offered  an  idea ; for  the 
elevation  of  Mecca  was  not  Mahommed’s  original 
intention — he  rather  leaned  to  Jerusalem.  They 
sneered  carelessly,  for  Mahommed  was  too  strongly 
protected  to  be  attacked,  but  they  rejected  him 
without  any  very  great  excitement  or  attention. 
Some  few,  however,  chiefly  among  his  own  con- 
nexions, confided  in  him,  ignorant  that  many,  in 
accepting  his  statements,  accepted  also  thrones  and 
places  in  the  front  rank  of  human  history.  Abu 
Bekr,  a chief  of  the  Beni  Saym,  a sub-clan  of  the 
Koreish,  listened  to  the  new  revelation  gladly,  and 
lived  and  died — refugee,  soldier,  vizier,  and  caliph 
— always  the  bosom  friend  and  believing  disciple  ol 
his  kinsman.  Saad,  the  next  disciple,  was  a nephew 
of  Mahommed’s  mother,  Amina  ; Zoheir,  the  next,  a 
nephew  of  Khadijah  ; Othman,  the  next,  a grandson 
of  Abdul  Mutalik,  Mahommed’s  grandfather;  and 
Abdul  Ruhaman,  the  fifth,  was  of  the  Beni  Zohra, 
Amina’s  clan.  Numerous  slaves  also  announced 
their  adhesion  to  the  new  opinions.  Abu  Bekr 
exhausted  great  wealth  for  an  Arab  in  purchasing 
slaves  who  had  been  persecuted  for  their  admira- 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


171 


tion  of  Mahommed,  and  from  that  day  to  this  Islam 
has  been  distinguished  by  its  adherence  to  one  high 
principle.  The  slave  who  embraces  Islam  is  free ; 
not  simply  a freed  man,  but  a free  citizen,  the  equal 
of  all  save  the  Sultan,  competent  de  facto  as  well  as 
de  jure  to  all  and  every  office  in  the  state.  The 
total  number  was  few,  not  five  score  ; but  after  four 
years  of  preaching  it  had  become  sufficient  to 
arouse  discontent  and  enmity.  The  Koreish  dared 
not  attack  Mahommed  himself,  for  he  was  protected 
by  his  relatives ; but  they  jeered  at  him,  and 
threatened  the  disciples,  who  one  by  one  dropped 
into  the  little  house  where  he  preached,  still  called 
the  House  of  Islam,  and  took  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  one  God  and  his  Messenger.  So  fierce 
became  the  persecution,  that  Mahommed  sent  some 
of  his  followers  to  Abyssinia,  and  even  tried  by  a 
momentary  concession  to  idolatry  to  gain  them  pro- 
tection from  assault.  The  Meccans  heard  with 
delight  that  he  had  named  Ozza  and  Lat,  the  two 
great  idols,  as  intercessors  before  the  Throne  ; but 
the  weakness  lasted  only  a few  days,  and  the  storm, 
intensified  by  disappointment,  raged  more  violently 
than  ever.  His  uncle,  Abu  Talib,  was  compelled  to 
threaten  all  who  should  attack  him  with  death  ; and 
when,  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  preaching,  two  power- 
ful citizens,  Omar  and  Hamza,  professed  themselves 
disciples,  even  his  influence  could  not  restrain  the 
Koreish  from  proceeding  to  extremities.  They 
solemnly  placed  all  the  descendants  of  Hashim, 


172 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Mahommed’s  great-grandfather,  under  the  ban,  re- 
fused to  intermarry  with  them,  or  trade  with  them, 
or  supply  them  with  food,  and  drove  then  en  masse 
into  the  quartier  occupied  by  the  relatives  and 
descendants  of  Abu  Talib.  There  they  were  cut  off 
from  the  city,  none  venturing  to  sell  them  anything 
except  by  stealth,  and  none  of  them  daring  to  go 
out  except  during  the  holy  month,  when  Mecca  was 
a sanctuary  to  all  Arabs.  In  this  imprisonment  the 
Prophet  and  his  followers  remained  three  years,  until 
his  enemies,  wearied  out,  accepted  the  accidental 
destruction  of  the  paper  on  which  the  ban  was 
written  as  a sign  that  God  willed  the  interdict  to 
be  lifted.  The  release,  however,  was  followed  by 
the  deaths  of  Khadijah  and  Abu  Talib,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  tenth  year  of  his  ministry  Mahommed 
found  himself  with  his  means  diminished,  his  band 
of  followers  not  increased,  his  protector  dead,  and  the 
Koreish  at  last  apparently  at  liberty  to  extirpate  his 
disciples.  In  this  extremity  he  resolved  on  an 
enterprise  which,  we  agree  with  Mr.  Muir,  would 
alone  suffice  to  prove  his  own  belief  in  his  mission. 
Followed  only  by  Zeid,  he  set  out  for  Tayif,  a city 
sixty  or  seventy  miles  from  Mecca,  inhabited  by 
pagans  of  a peculiarly  bigoted  character,  and  boldly 
appealed  to  its  people  for  aid,  protection,  and  belief. 
They  stoned  him  out  of  the  city,  and  he  returned 
to  Mecca  wounded  and  defeated,  calmly  repeating 
to  himself,  “ Thy  anger,  O Lord,  alone  I dread.” 
The  Koreish  were  exulting  in  the  certainty  of 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


173 


victory,  when  aid  suddenly  appeared  in  another 
quarter. 

In  the  season  of  pilgrimage,  a.d.  620,  Mahommed, 
who  always  preached  to  the  crowds  which  at  that 
season  gathered  from  all  parts  to  Mecca,  had 
attracted  the  regard  of  a few  pilgrims  from  the  rival 
though  inferior  city  of  Medina.  The  Jews  were 
powerful  in  Medina,  and  the  idolaters  there  had 
gathered  from  them  a vague  idea  that  a mighty 
prophet  was  at  hand,  whom  it  was  advisable  for  the 
idolaters  speedily  to  conciliate.  Five  or  six  of  them 
took  Mahommed  to  be  the  prophet  expected, and  they 
promised  on  the  next  pilgrimage  to  bring  him  more 
of  their  brethren.  Time  is  nothing  in  the  East, 
where  nothing  ever  occurs  ; but  that  year  must  have 
been  a weary  one  to  the  Prophet  and  his  followers. 
It  passed  away,  however,  and  at  the  next  pilgrimage 
the  number  of  the  Medinese  was  doubled,  and  twelve 
converts  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  Mahommed. 
Again  they  were  sent  home,  and  again  Mahommed, 
with  the  stolid  patience  which  in  Europe  belongs 
only  to  the  greatest,  and  in  Asia  to  everybody, 
waited  through  the  year  in  peace.  He  even  inter- 
mitted preaching,  keeping  his  followers  in  heart  by 
occasional  revelations,  and  confirming  his  own 
authority  by  the  distinct  announcement,  “ Whoso 
obeyeth  not  God  and  His  Prophet,  verily  to  him  shall 
be  the  fire  of  hell,” — a declaration  almost  superb  in 
its  pride  when  the  circumstances  are  considered. 
The  men  who  were  to  obey  it  were  his  own  kins- 


i74 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


men,  men  who  had  known  him  from  his  youth  up, 
who  lived  with  him  almost  in  imprisonment  in  Abu 
Talib’s  quartier,  among  whom  he  ate  and  slept,  and 
had  begun  to  marry  wives,  to  whom  his  demeanour 
in  every  hour  of  the  day  was  thoroughly  known. 
Twelve  years  of  Mahommed’s  preaching,  eight  of 
their  fidelity,  had  brought  them  nothing  except 
injury  to  their  substance,  and  the  hatred  of  their 
relatives  ; they  had  no  conceivable  chance  of  earthly 
power,  and  most  of  them  little  chance  of  escaping 
the  Koreish.  Yet  here,  in  the  midst  of  their  tribu- 
lation, while  still  sick  with  longing  for  aid  from  a dis- 
tant and  inferior  city,  Mahommed  asserted  authority 
without  limit  or  bound,  and  was  cheerfully,  even 
eagerly,  obeyed.  The  year  passed  at  last,  and  this 
time  a numerous  band,  seventy-three  men  in  all,  met 
him  from  Medina,  and  in  the  dead  of  night,  in  the 
stony  valley  of  Akaba,  swore  to  obey  Mahommed,  and 
protect  him  with  their  lives.  Great  precautions  had 
been  taken  to  insure  secrecy  ; but  the  Koreish  heard 
of  the  meeting,  and  pursued  the  retiring  Medinese. 
They  returned,  however,  from  a fruitless  expedition, 
and  in  a few  days  Mahommed  gave  the  command, 
“ Depart  unto  Medina.” 

Secretly,  by  twos  and  threes,  his  disciples  left  the 
city ; and  as  house  after  house  was  deserted,  and 
quartier  after  quartier  became  vacant,  the  Koreish 
looked  on  with  amaze.  Themselves  an  aristocracy, 
they  could  not  comprehend  the  faith  which  induced 
wealthy  men  of  high  blood  to  go  forth  penniless 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


175 


to  a distant  and  usually  hostile  city,  250  miles  away, 
at  the  bidding  of  one  no  greater  than  themselves. 
Mahommed  stayed  to  the  last ; and  it  was  not  till  a 
rumour  reached  him  that  the  Koreish  had  resolved 
on  his  death,  that  he  and  his  faithful  Abu  Bekr  fled 
from  Mecca.  Fearful  of  pursuit,  they  ascended  the 
mountain  Thaur,  and  there  lived  three  days,  hunted 
by  the  Koreish,  who  at  one  time  passed  over  the 
cave  in  which  they  lay  concealed,  and  fed  by  a 
shepherd  formerly  in  Abu  Bekr’s  employ.  On  the 
third  night,  June  23,  622,  the  Prophet  commenced 
his  ride,  and  reached  Medina  in  safety  with  his 
friend.  His  family,  and  that  of  Abu  Bekr,  remained 
in  Mecca,  protected  by  the  strong  clans  to  which 
they  belonged,  until  they  also  set  out  for  Medina, 
and  the  Hegira — the  Flight,  from  which  one-sixth 
of  the  population  of  earth  compute  time — was  at 
last  complete.  Eight  years  of  public  preaching 
and  teaching  the  unity  of  God  had  ended  in  this, 
the  flight  of  the  Prophet  from  the  city  in  which  his 
ancestors  reigned,  with  the  loss  of  his  patrimony 
and  that  of  his  scanty  following. 

The  points  on  which  this  narrative  differs  from 
those  commonly  circulated  will  be  at  once  perceived. 
The  legendary  element  is  in  the  first  place  entirely 
struck  out.  The  miraculous  light  which  shone  from 
Amina,  the  long  conversations  with  Nestorius,  the 
spider’s  web  woven  across  the  entrance  of  the  cave 
on  Mount  Thaur,  and  a hundred  stories  of  like 
character,  which  only  distract  attention  from  the 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


176 


true  facts  of  his  career,  are  entirely  omitted.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  element  of  time,  which  figures 
so  strongly  in  real  life,  and  has  so  little  influence 
on  fiction,  is  once  more  restored  to  its  legitimate 
place.  Mahommed  was  for  three  years  assured  of  his 
own  mission  before  he  ventured  to  preach,  and  four 
before  he  had  made  a convert  beyond  Khadijah, 
Ali  and  Zeid.  He  was  six  years  striving  in  vain 
to  convince  the  citizens  of  Mecca  before  he  made 
any  offer  to  the  men  of  Medina,  and  then  he  waited 
two  more  to  organize  their  assistance,  and  fled  at 
last  rather  for  the  sake  of  his  followers  and  his  faith 
than  for  his  own.  His  own  life  was  probably  in 

no  especial  danger.  Had  he  been  put  to  death,  all 
the  sons  of  Abdul  Mutalik,  and  all  the  descendants 
of  Hashim,  all  the  relations  of  Khadijah,  and  all 
the  kinsmen  of  Abu  Bekr,  four  strong  houses  out  of 
the  ruling  clan,  would  have  pursued  the  murderers 
to  the  destruction  of  themselves  and  their  kinsmen. 
A sense  of  this  danger  was  never  wholly  absent 
from  the  minds  of  the  Koreish,  who,  moreover, 
always  received  the  slightest  concession  from  Ma- 
hommed with  undisguised  exultation.  The  real 
marvel  is  not  in  his  safety,  which  was  protected  by 
the  social  system  of  Mecca,  but  in  the  amazing  con- 
stancy which  induced  him  year  after  year  through 
the  whole  maturity  of  manhood  to  struggle  on,  pro- 
claiming his  Divine  mission,  preaching  the  unity  of 
God,  and  demanding  obedience  to  His  prophets, 
confirming  the  faith  of  his  followers,  strengthening 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


177 


the  weak,  speaking  kindly  to  the  few  backsliders, 
every  day  building  up  a dominion  over  their  hearts 
which,  in  all  the  changes  of  his  career,  never  grew 
feeble,  which  induced  them,  as  we  shall  see,  to  pour 
out  their  lives  like  water,  and,  most  wonderful  of 
all,  compelled  them  after  his  death  to  sacrifice  them- 
selves in  defence  of  the  truth  of  his  pretensions. 
To  suppose  that  such  influence  was  ever  wielded 
by  a man  who  did  not  believe  in  himself,  is  to  us 
an  absurd  stretch  of  credulity,  and  his  personal 
power  indicates  at  once  the  character  Mahommed 
must  have  borne.  Authority  of  that  kind  is  given 
only  to  one  class  of  men,  the  leader  in  whom  immu- 
table will  makes  the  manner  gentle  and  the  speech 
kindly,  while  it  confers  also  that  grave  dignity  and 
that  consistent  habit  of  thought  before  which  the 
mass  of  men  bend  as  easily  as  clay  to  the  potter. 
And  this  we  find  to  have  been  the  character  univer- 
sally ascribed  to  Mahommed.  Mr.  Muir,  who  is  no 
apologist,  speaks  repeatedly  of  the  gentle  stateliness 
which  was  his  first  obvious  attribute,  as  it  is  that 
of  all  men  whom  God  intends  for  princes — 

A remarkable  feature  was  the  urbanity  and  consideration  with 
which  Mahommed  treated  even  the  most  insignificant  of  his  fol- 
lowers. Modesty  and  kindness,  patience,  self-denial  and  gene- 
rosity, pervaded  his  conduct,  and  riveted  the  affections  of  all 
around  him.  He  disliked  to  say  No ; if  unable  to  reply  to  a 
petitioner  in  the  affirmative,  he  preferred  to  remain  silent.  . . . 
He  possessed  the  rare  faculty  of  making  each  individual  in  a 
company  think  that  he  was  the  most  favoured  guest.  When  he 
met  any  one  rejoicing,  he  would  seize  him  eagerly  and  cordially 

N 


1?8 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


by  the  hand.  With  the  bereaved  and  afflicted  he  sympathized 
tenderly.  Gentle  and  unbending  towards  little  children,  he  would 
not  disdain  to  accost  a group  of  them  at  play  with  the  salutation 
of  peace.  He  shared  his  food,  even  in  times  of  scarcity,  with 
others ; and  was  sedulously  solicitous  for  the  personal  comfort  of 
every  one  about  him.  A kindly  and  benevolent  disposition 
pervades  all  these  illustrations  of  his  character. 

Ten  years  of  command  and  self-restraint  do  not 
diminish  dignity  ; and  Mahommed  rode  into  Medina, 
in  all  things  fulfilling  the  highest  Oriental  ideal  of 
the  true  king.  Tall  and  spare,  and  of  amazing 
strength,  with  his  cheek  still  ruddy,  and  his  beard 
falling  in  black  waves  just  streaked  with  silver  to 
his  waist,  his  manner  soft  to  feminine  grace,  his  eye 
black,  restless,  and  slightly  bloodshot,  and  his  gait 
that  of  one  who  ascends  a hill,  i.e.  firm  but  spring- 
ing, he  must  have  looked  as  fit  to  be  a leader  of 
men  as  any  the  Arabs  had  ever  seen.  Add  to  these 
advantages,  birth  derived  from  the  sacred  race,  the 
unhesitating  devotion  of  a small  but  long-tried  band, 
a widespread  fame  throughout  Arabia,  some  political 
popularity  in  Medina,  and  a claim  to  authority  men 
could  not  even  examine,  much  less  question,  and  we 
have  some  idea  of  the  true  position  of  Mahommed 
as  the  so-called  “ powerless  fugitive  ” rode  into  the 
city,  which  had  turned  out  its  population  in  mingled 
curiosity  and  awe. 

The  first  half  of  the  life  of  Mahommed  was  com- 
pleted, and  also  the  first  half  of  his  religion.  Up  to 
this  time  he  preached  only  a faith,  but  henceforward 
he  was  to  pile  upon  this  a cult,  a series  of  observ- 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


179 


ances,  and  many  laws  which  had  no  necessary  bear- 
ing upon  religion  at  all.  He  merged  the  prophet  in 
the  legislator,  and  it  is  as  the  legislator  that  in 
Europe  he  has  been  most  harshly  judged.  His 
creed,  as  evolved  at  Mecca,  had  a majestic  sim- 
plicity, lost  to  Europeans  in  their  unconscious  con- 
fusion between  creed  and  laws.  It  may  be  summed 
up  in  a dozen  lines.  Mahommedanism,  stripped  of  its 
accessories,  is  pure  theism,  enjoining  justice,  brother- 
hood among  the  faithful,  abstinence  from  breaches 
of  the  universal  moral  law,  the  sexual  law  partially 
excepted,  and  persistent  and  regular  public  prayer. 
That  is  the  substance  of  Islam,  the  only  creed 
essential  to  Mussulman  salvation,  the  only  law 
binding  upon  the  soul.  An  active  Moslem  ought 
also  to  perform  his  social  duties,  to  obey  the  Caliph, 
to  defend  the  faith  by  arms,  to  bind  himself  under 
some  few  ceremonial  laws.  But  all  the  doctors 
agree  that  he  who  observes  only  the  precepts  just 
quoted,  as,  for  example,  a cripple,  will  still  be  saved; 
that  the  remainder  are  the  ornaments  of  Islam  rather 
than  its  foundation.  The  notion  of  an  inevitable 
fate,  of  a power  before  which  human  effort  is  power- 
less, and  which  is  now  universal  in  the  Mahommedan 
world,  was  no  idea  of  the  prophet.  He  doubtless 
caused  it  by  the  excessive  rigour  with  which  he 
pressed  upon  his  followers  the  notion  of  the 
immediate  and  incessant  application  of  the  Divine 
power  to  earthly  affairs, — a notion  which  makes  the 
strong  Puritan  doubly  energetic,  but  inclines  the 


i8o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


weaker  Asiatic  to  indolent  acquiescence, — but  it 
was  no  theory  of  the  Koran. 

Europeans  will  readily  perceive  wherein  this 
scheme  falls  short  of  perfect  religious  harmony. 
As  a religion  for  the  soul,  Mahommedanism  is  too 
negative,  fails  to  meet  the  inherent  sense  of  sin, 
and  entirely  omits  the  great  correlative  of  benevo- 
lence, love  to  God,  as  a motive  to  action.  By 
Asiatics,  however,  who  consider  that  love  and 
obedience  are  not  so  much  cause  and  effect  as 
absolutely  synonymous,  this  deficiency  is  rarely 
felt;  and  in  all  other  respects  Islam,  as  a creed, 
is  an  enormous  advance,  not  only  on  all  idolatries, 
but  on  all  systems  of  purely  human  origin.  It 
utterly  roots  out  idolatry,  and  restores  the  one  ever- 
living  God  to  His  true  place,  if  not  in  the  heart  at 
least  in  the  imagination  and  reverence  of  mankind. 
It  establishes  the  principle,  not  indeed  of  benevo- 
lence towards  all  God’s  creatures,  but  of  benevolence 
towards  all  who  have  deserved  it  by  expressing  their 
faith  in  the  one  true  Deity.  It  prohibits  all  the 
universally  recognized  crimes  save  one,  makes 
temperance  a religious  obligation,  and  finally  re- 
leases its  followers  at  once  and  for  ever  from  the 
burden  of  a cult,  of  a law  which  made  ceremonial 
observance  a source  or  condition  of  salvation. 
Prayer  does  not  become  a ceremony  because  it  is 
fixed  for  stated  times,  and  the  Koran  never  intended 
it  should  degenerate  into  a form.  Other  ceremony 
in  Islam  there  was  none,  circumcision  being  nowhere 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


181 


ordained,  and  only  retained  by  the  Moslem  in  imi- 
tation of  their  pagan  ancestors.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  Mahommed  was  circumcised  himself ; and 
the  learned  reasons  assigned  by  commentators  for 
Mahommed’s  adoption  of  this  rite  are  just  so  many 
exercises  of  mistaken  ingenuity. 

There  remains  one  other  point  which  in  Europe 
is  considered,  justly  enough,  a dogma  of  Islam, — 
the  duty  of  extending  the  faith  by  force.  This, 
however,  formed  no  part  of  the  doctrine  as  preached 
at  Mecca.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether  Mahommed 
had  ever  thought  out  his  terrible  sentence, — the 
sword  is  the  key  of  heaven  and  hell  ; the  dogma 
which,  chiming  in  as  it  does  with  the  fierce 
courage  of  the  bravest  Asiatic  races,  and  adding 
to  “ the  triumph  and  the  vanity,  the  rapture  of  the 
strife,”  the  grandeur  of  moral  well-doing,  has  proved 
the  political  safeguard  of  the  Mussulman  tribes, 
urging  them  onwards  perpetually  to  broader 
dominion,  and  enabling  them,  when  defeated,  to 
die  fighting  in  the  assured  hope  of  a sensual  immor- 
tality. It  is  quite  certain  that  at  Mecca  Mahommed 
never  issued  the  command  in  any  distinct  form,  and 
that  he  hoped  against  hope,  for  twelve  long  years, 
to  succeed  by  the  simple  massiveness  of  his  doctrine 
and  the  eloquence  of  his  own  tongue.  It  was  in  all 
probability  not  till  the  resort  of  the  Koreish  to  force 
made  him  doubt  whether  argument  would  hence- 
forward be  even  accessible  to  them,  that  the  thought 
of  compulsion,  of  arguments  addressed  to  the  fears 


182 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


instead  of  the  reason,  flashed  across  his  mind.  The 
idea,  however,  was  developed  fullgrown,  for  the 
Sura  which  recommended  the  first  war  with  Mecca 
promised  also  paradise  to  him  who  fell  in  arms;  and 
of  all  the  revelations  this  was  the  one  most  eagerly 
believed.  It  is  to  this  day  the  last  which  a sceptical 
Mahommedan  doubts,  and  it  exercises  a power  over 
inferior  races  almost  as  extraordinary  as  the  sway 
Christian  truth  can  sometimes  obtain.  It  is  related 
of  Tippoo’s  Hindoo  converts,  70,000  of  whom  were 
made  Mussulmans  by  force  in  a single  day,  that  this 
was  the  doctrine  they  accepted  with  their  hearts ; 
and  at  the  siege  of  Seringapatam  they  courted  death 
in  scores  : men  utterly  lost  to  every  call  of  honour, 
or  patriotism,  or  family  affection,  whose  only  occu- 
pation is  eating,  and  whose  only  recreation  is 
woman,  still  thrill  with  excitement  at  the  summons 
for  the  faith,  and  meet  death  with  a contempt  the 
Red  Indian  could  only  envy.  In  the  recent  war  in 
Upper  India  even  the  Highlanders  wavered  as  the 
Ghazees  flung  themselves  on  their  bayonets  ; and 
the  Moplahs  have  been  known  to  yell  with  exulta- 
tion as  the  bayonets  passed  through  them  far 
enough  to  allow  their  short  knives  to  stab  deep. 
The  promulgation  of  this  order  marked  the  com- 
pletion of  a political  rather  than  a religious  position. 
Mahommed  could  add  nothing  to  his  power  as  prince  : 
no  compact  with  his  people,  no  conceivable  subtilty 
of  legislation,  no  fanaticism  of  loyalty,  could  invest 
him  with  anything  but  a faint  shadow  of  the 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


183 

despotic  power  which  must  appertain  to  a recognized 
vicegerent  of  God.  But  the  additional  belief  that 
death  in  war  is  an  instant  passport  to  heaven  turned 
all  his  followers  into  willing  conscripts,  and  war  into 
the  most  solemn  and  most  sacred  of  ordinary  duties. 
Imagine  the  Puritan  soldiers  convinced,  not  only 
that  their  cause  was  favoured  of  God,  but  that 
Cromwell  was  His  vicegerent,  and  that  the  Day  of 
Judgement  could  never  arrive  for  the  soldier  slain 
in  battle,  and  we  gain  some  idea  of  the  spirit  in 
which  the  first  followers  of  Mahommed  advanced 
to  the  conflict  with  the  infidels. 

Mahommed  arrived  in  the  outskirts  of  Medina  on 
June  28,  a.d.  622,  and  after  a halt  of  a few  days  to 
ascertain  the  state  of  opinion  in  the  town,  he  entered 
the  city  on  a Friday — a day  thenceforward  set  apart 
for  public  worship  throughout  the  Moslem  world ; 
and  throwing  the  reins  on  the  neck  of  his  camel,  A1 
Caswa,  bade  her  seek  her  resting-place  through  the 
rejoicing  crowds.  A1  Caswa  halted  in  an  open 
courtyard,  and  Mahommed  descended  and  marked 
out  the  site  for  his  first  house,  and  the  mosque  in 
which  pilgrims  to  Medina  still  recall  his  flight.  He 
did  not,  of  course,  though  it  is  often  asserted, 
assume  any  power  over  Medina.  The  dislocated 
social  condition  universal  throughout  Arabia  enabled 
him  to  exercise  the  direct  and  sole  sovereignty  over 
his  own  followers ; and  their  attachment,  his  own 
popularity,  and  the  mysterious  awe  with  which  he 
began  to  be  regarded,  gave  him  vast  influence  over 


184 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


the  inhabitants ; but  of  direct  authority  he  had 
scarcely  any.  Each  tribe  governed  itself.  The 
two  strongest,  the  Beni  Khazraj  and  the  Beni  Aws, 
were  passively  favourable,  but  he  had  frequently  to 
conciliate  them,  and  Abdallah,  the  chieftain  of  the 
first-named  clan,  regarded  him  with  strong  jealousy 
and  disfavour.  He  would  have  been  prince  of 
Medina  but  for  Mahommed’s  arrival,  and  though  he 
remained  through  life  an  ally,  he  pressed  his  influ- 
ence arrogantly,  and  has  the  honour  of  being  the  only 
man  who  ever  turned  Mahommed  from  a declared 
purpose.  The  remaining  tribes  seem  to  have  been 
friendly,  with  the  exception  of  the  Jews,  who  were 
numerous  and  powerful,  and  who  gradually  became 
objects  of  intense  dislike  to  Mahommed.  He  had 
once  entertained  the  idea  of  taking  them  into  his 
religious  system,  and  he  made  on  his  arrival  a 
covenant  with  one  tribe,  granting  them  privileges 
very  similar  to  those  enjoyed  in  aftertimes  by  the 
Jews  of  Cordova.  He  soon,  however,  when  in 
actual  contact  with  them,  discovered  what  so  many 
princes  had  discovered  before,  that  Judaism  cannot 
by  its  very  nature  coalesce  with  any  other  creed,  and 
the  revelations  gradually  became  hostile  to  their 
claims.  The  Jews  fell  back  entirely;  and  as  Ma- 
hommed had  not  discovered  the  second  truth,  that 
force  applied  to  Jews  is  waste  of  power,  he  assumed 
a position  of  open  hostility  to  the  tribes. 

This,  however,  is  an  anticipation.  For  the  first 
six  months  after  his  arrival  he  busied  himself  with 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN  185 

the  organization  of  his  faith.  The  practice  of  lus- 
tration was  regularly  introduced.  The  daily  prayers 
were  reduced  to  five.  The  first  Kebleh  Jerusalem 
was  exchanged  for  Mecca,  thus  linking  Islam  with 
the  ancient  pagan  cult  instead  of  Judaism,  and  the 
month  Ramadhan  was  selected  as  the  period  of 
annual  fasting.  The  day  of  fast-breaking  was  also 
appointed,  and  finally  Mahommed,  in  obedience  to  a 
dream  related  by  a disciple,  bade  a Negro  slave 
ascend  to  the  top  of  a lofty  house,  and  there  cry 
aloud  at  the  appointed  times,  “ Prayer  is  better  than 
sleep ; prayer  is  better  than  sleep.”  Even  Alex- 
ander the  Great  is  in  Asia  an  unknown  personage 
by  the  side  of  the  slave  Billal,  whose  cry  to  this  day 
summons  at  the  same  hours  a sixth  of  the  human 
race  to  the  same  devotions.  As  soon  as  the  mosque 
was  completed  Mahommed  recommenced  his  personal 
teaching,  preaching  from  the  top  of  the  steps  of  a 
high  pulpit,  in  the  modern  Protestant  style.  The 
religious  life  of  Islam  was  then  complete,  and  to  the 
day  of  his  death  the  Prophet  added  only  to  what 
may  be  called  the  dogmas  of  jurisprudence.  For 
nearly  two  years  he  continued  this  course  of  life, 
slowly  the  while  building  up  his  personal  authority. 
Abdallah,  chief  of  the  Beni  Khazraj,  was  trouble- 
some, and  the  Jews  very  sarcastic;  but  day  by  day 
the  number  of  his  followers  increased.  The  people 
came  over  to  his  side.  Each  man  as  he  joined  him 
gave  up  his  ties  of  tribe  and  kinsmanship,  and  bound 
himself  a subject  to  Mahommed  alone.  He  began, 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


186 


also,  to  use  his  followers  to  arms,  organizing  small 
expeditions  against  the  Koreish  caravans ; and 
although  these  were  at  first  unsuccessful,  they 
accustomed  the  faithful  to  the  idea  of  hostilities  with 
the  sacred  clan,  and  to  habits  of  military  obedience. 
In  three  of  these  forays  he  commanded  in  person, 
and  in  three  the  command  passed  with  the  Prophet’s 
white  banner  to  his  nominee.  This  was  at  first 
always  a Medinese  chief,  and  it  was  not  till  the 
third  expedition  that  he  ventured  to  select  a com- 
mander solely  for  devotion  to  himself,  and  intrust 
the  white  banner  to  the  faithful  Zeid.  The  uniform 
escape  of  the  Koreish  induced  Mahommed  at  length 
to  suspect  treachery  ; and  on  the  seventh  expedi- 
tion, in  November,  623,  he  sent  a Meccan  named 
Abdallah  in  command,  with  sealed  instructions. 
This  expedition  succeeded,  but  the  success  was 
gained  in  the  holy  month,  and  Mahommed  for  some 
days  had  the  booty  laid  aside.  At  last  he  relented, 
his  delay  having  fully  established  the  principle  that 
the  disposal  of  booty  rested  with  him ; and  reserv- 
ing one  fifth  for  his  own  use,  or  rather  that  of  the 
State,  he  divided  the  spoil.  It  was  shortly  after  this 
success  that  the  series  of  revelations  commenced, 
declaring  war  against  the  infidel  a main  duty  of  the 
faithful ; and  the  rich  spoil  and  the  splendid  future 
proved  too  much  for  the  men  of  Medina.  Thence- 
forward open  opposition  within  the  city  disappeared; 
and  when,  in  January,  624,  Mahommed  once  more 
raised  his  standard,  he  was  followed  by  the  Medi- 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


187 


nese  as  readily  as  by  his  own  people.  He  nomi- 
nated a governor  during  his  absence,  as  if  the  city 
belonged  to  himself  alone ; and  mustering  his  force 
outside  the  walls,  found  that  it  had  increased  from 
the  eighty  refugees  to  three  hundred  and  five. 

His  object  was  to  intercept  the  caravan  which, 
with  Abu  Sofian,  chief  of  the  Koreish,  at  its  head, 
was  crawling  from  Syria  down  the  coast  of  the  Red 
Sea  on  its  way  to  Mecca.  With  this  view  he 
marched  rapidly  to  Badr,  where  the  Meccan  road 
strikes  the  great  Syrian  route ; but  he  had,  as  usual, 
been  betrayed  by  some  secret  friend  of  the  Koreish 
among  the  Medinese.  Abu  Sofian  hurried  on  a 
swift  messenger  to  Mecca  imploring  aid,  while  he 
himself,  leaving  the  coast-route,  struck  with  his 
caravan  direct  for  the  city,  which  he  reached  in 
safety.  The  Koreish,  however,  were  weary  of  Ma- 
hommed’s  audacity,  and  though  still  divided  among 
themselves  as  to  his  claim  of  kindred,  pushed  their 
army  of  relief  forward  to  Badr,  determined  to  make 
a signal  example.  Mahommed  was  equally  eager,  and 
his  followers,  when  consulted,  pledged  themselves 
to  follow  him  to  the  world’s  end.  Fanaticism  had 
destroyed  their  remembrance  of  the  ties  of  kindred, 
and  they  prayed  openly  for  the  destruction  of  their 
relatives.  They  arrived  first  upon  the  field,  a sandy 
valley  traversed  by  a small  spring  which  feeds  a 
series  of  small  cisterns.  Mahommed  filled  them  all 
except  the  one  nearest  to  the  enemy,  and  bade  his 
followers  stand  on  the  defensive,  and  regard  that 


i88 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


cistern  as  their  citadel.  The  Koreish  crossed  the 
low  hills  in  front  of  this  position  on  January  13, 
624,  and  began  the  action  in  the  true  Arabian  and 
Homeric  style.  Three  warriors  stepping  forward 
challenged  the  whole  of  the  faithful,  and  Mahommed, 
accepting  the  challenge,  ordered  three  of  his  rela- 
tives, Ali,  Hamza,  and  Obeida,  to  stand  forward. 
The  combat  ended  in  their  favour,  and  the  Mahom- 
medans,  maddened  with  excitement,  and  favoured  by 
the  wind,  which  blew  a storm  of  dust  in  the  faces 
of  the  Koreish,  charged  upon  a force  three  times 
the  number  of  their  own  with  irresistible  effect. 
The  Koreish  maintained  their  reputation  ; but  the 
Moslem  craved  death  as  much  as  victory,  and  acts 
such  as  are  ordinarily  only  dictated  by  despair 
signalized  their  hope  of  heaven.  Omeir,  a lad  of 
sixteen,  flung  away  the  dates  he  was  eating  with  a 
vow  to  eat  the  next  in  paradise  ; and  Muadz  ibn 
Amr,  with  his  arm  cut  through  at  the  shoulder,  tore 
off  the  limb  as  it  hung  by  the  skin,  bound  the 
wound,  and  fought  on  unmindful.  Against  men  of 
this  temper  ordinary  courage  was  unavailing,  and 
the  Koreish,  abandoning  forty-nine  bodies  and  the 
same  number  of  prisoners,  all  their  animals  and  all 
their  baggage,  fled  precipitately  on  the  road  to 
Mecca.  Six  of  the  prisoners  were  executed  as 
avowed  enemies  of  Mahommed  or  his  creed,  but  the 
remainder  were  treated  with  a kindness  they  pub- 
licly acknowledged,  and  most  of  them  embraced  the 
faith.  Every  man  in  the  army  had  at  least  two 


THE  GEE  AT  AR  ASIAN 


189 


camels  out  of  the  spoil,  and  Mahommed  averred 
boldly  that  Badr  was  the  visible  seal  of  Islam,  a battle 
won  by  the  immediate  interposition  of  the  Almighty 
on  behalf  of  his  Prophet.  On  his  return  he  assumed 
the  full  authority  of  a prince  over  the  city  : ordered 
Asma,  a Jewess  who  had  published  satirical  verses 
against  him,  to  be  put  to  death,  slew  a Jew  guilty 
of  the  same  offence,  and  besieged  the  Beni  Cainucaa, 
a Jewish  tribe  of  Medina,  in  their  own  faubourg. 
The  Jews,  after  a siege  of  fifteen  days,  submitted  at 
discretion  ; and  Mahommed,  who  held  them  to  be 
rebels  and  infidels,  at  once  ordered  them  to  execu- 
tion. He  was  compelled,  however,  to  yield  to  the 
remonstrance  of  Abdallah,  the  chief  of  the  Beni 
Khazraj,  and  patronus  of  the  Jewish  clans,  and  still 
too  powerful  to  be  safely  or  irremediably  offended. 
Expedition  now  followed  on  expedition.  The  Beni 
Suleim  and  the  Beni  Ghatafan  were  successively 
attacked  and  plundered ; a roving  band  of  the 
Koreish,  headed  by  their  leader,  Abu  Sofian,  were 
repulsed ; and  at  last  the  annual  Meccan  caravan, 
laden  with  bars  of  silver  for  the  purchase  of  goods 
in  Syria,  was  captured,  yielding  to  every  man  in  the 
army  800  dirhems,  a fortune  in  a country  where  a 
dirhem  a day  was  considered  fair  pay  for  the  gover- 
nor of  a great  city.  Every  expedition  increased  the 
confidence  of  Mahommed’s  followers,  and  developed 
the  habit  of  obedience,  until  at  length  the  Prophet’s 
whisper  was  sufficient  sentence  of  death,  and  the 
Moslem  exulted  in  their  willingness  to  slay  their 


190 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


own  brothers  at  his  command.  A central  authority 
thus  obeyed  doubled  the  active  force  of  Medina. 
There  alone  in  Arabia  a single  man  of  commanding 
ability  could  plan  without  counsellors,  and  command 
without  explaining  his  objects.  There  too  alone  in 
Arabia  was  at  work  the  strangely  vivifying  principle 
which,  for  want  of  a better  term,  we  must  style 
equality. 

The  operation  of  this  principle  as  one  of  the  many 
causes  which  favoured  the  development  of  Islam  has 
been  too  frequently  overlooked.  Despotisms  very 
often,  though  not  always,  produce  an  imperfect 
equality.  In  Russia,  for  example,  though  the  favour 
of  the  Czar  can  raise  a serf  into  a prince,  still  the 
prince  has  under  all  other  circumstances  the  advan- 
tage over  the  serf.  Under  Mahommed,  however, 
there  sprang  up  ex  necessitate  rei  a form  of  demo- 
cratic equality  more  absolute  than  the  world  has 
elsewhere  seen.  Claims  of  birth  and  wealth  could 
be  of  no  value  in  the  presence  of  a master  whose 
favour  implied  the  favour  of  the  Deity.  The 
proudest  Arab  could  not  murmur  if  God  chose  a 
slave  like  Zeid  to  be  leader  of  armies,  and  visibly 
confirmed  His  choice  with  the  seal  of  victory.  It 
was  a principle  also  of  the  new  sect  that  Islam  extin- 
guished all  relations.  The  slave,  once  a Moslem, 
was  free ; the  foe,  once  a Moslem,  was  dearer  than 
any  kinsman  ; the  pagan,  once  a Moslem,  might 
preach,  if  the  Prophet  bade,  to  attentive  listeners. 
Mahommed  was  enabled,  therefore,  at  all  times  to 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


191 


command  the  absolute  aid  of  every  man  of  capacity 
within  his  ranks.  No  officers  of  his  threw  up  their 
commissions  because  they  were  superseded.  If  he 
selected  a child,  what  then  ? — could  not  God  give 
victory  to  a child  ? Moreover,  all  the  latent  forces 
which  social  order  restrains  were  instantly  at  his 
disposal.  Every  strong  man,  kept  down  by  cir- 
cumstances, had  an  instinctive  desire  to  believe  in 
the  faith  which  removed  at  a stroke  every  obstacle 
to  a career.  To  this  hour  this  principle  is  still  of 
vital  importance  in  all  Mahommedan  countries.  A 
dozen  times  has  a Sultan  utterly  ruined  stooped 
among  his  people,  found,  in  a water-carrier,  a tobac- 
conist, a slave,  or  a renegade,  the  required  man, 
raised  him  in  a day  to  power,  and  supported  him 
to  save  the  empire.  If  the  snuff-dealer  can  rule 
Egypt,  why  should  he  not  rule  Egypt  ? He  is  as 
near  to  God  as  any  other  Mussulman,  save  only  the 
heir  of  the  Caliphate  ; and  accordingly  Mehemet  Ali 
finds  birth,  trade,  and  want  of  education  no  obstacles 
in  his  path.  The  pariah  who  in  Madras  turns 
Christian  is  a pariah  still ; but  if  he  turns  Mussul- 
man, the  proudest  Mussulman  noble  will,  if  he  rises, 
give  him  his  daughter,  or  serve  him  as  a sovereign, 
without  a thought  of  his  descent.  Mahommed,  like 
all  real  kings,  knew  men  when  he  saw  them  ; gave 
power  to  Omar,  the  man  of  the  blue  blood,  or  Zeid, 
the  slave,  indifferently,  and  found  therefore  invari- 
ably that  the  special  talent  he  wanted  was  at  his 
command. 


192 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


These  immense  advantages  could  not,  however, 
preserve  Mahommed  invariably  from  disaster.  In  the 
middle  of  January,  625,  years  after  he  had  reached 
Medina,  the  Koreish  determined  once  for  all  to  end 
the  quarrel  with  their  dangerous  adversary.  Sum- 
moning all  their  allies,  and  devoting  all  the  treasure 
saved  in  Abu  Sofian’s  caravan  to  military  purposes, 
they  raised  what  was  then,  in  Arabia,  a formidable 
force.  Neither  then  nor  at  any  other  time  were  the 
Arabs  exclusively  or  mainly  cavalry.  They  admired 
and  cherished  horses,  and  most  men  could  ride ; but 
the  possession  of  a horse  was  a sign  of  wealth,  and 
among  the  mountaineers  and  citizens  by  no  means 
a common  one.  The  army,  therefore,  though  3,000 
in  number,  comprised  only  200  horse,  and  its  prin- 
cipal reliance  was  on  700  footmen  equipped  in  mail, 
and  in  the  archers,  who  did  duty,  as  in  feudal 
Europe,  for  light  troops.  Mahommed,  though  at  first 
inclined  to  stand  on  the  defensive,  yielded  to  the 
ardour  of  his  younger  followers,  and  marched  out 
of  Medina  with  a force  which  victory,  conversions, 
and  new  hope  had  swelled  from  the  300  of  Badr  to 
1,000  strong.  Of  this  force,  however,  300,  com- 
manded by  Abdallah,  chief  of  the  Beni  Khazraj, 
indignant  at  Mahommed’s  hostility  to  the  Jews, 
deserted  and  returned  to  Mecca  ; the  remainder, 
though  not  a fourth  of  their  enemies  in  number, 
determined  to  give  them  battle,  and  accordingly 
took  up  their  position  on  a small  stony  plain,  above 
which  rose  arid  and  red  the  frowning  rocks  of  the 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


193 


mountain  Ohod.  The  battle  began,  as  usual,  in  a 
series  of  single  combats,  in  which,  of  course,  those 
who  believed  death  only  an  entrance  to  paradise 
had  signally  the  advantage.  Excited  by  perpetual 
small  successes,  and  perhaps  rendered  imprudent 
by  their  confident  hope  of  Divine  aid,  the  Mussul- 
mans pressed  on  too  rapidly,  pierced  the  enemy’s 
line,  and  began  plundering  the  baggage.  The  rear- 
guard joined  in  this  exciting  game,  and  the  Koreish 
horse,  seeing  their  opportunity,  swept  down  on  the 
Moslem  from  behind.  There  was  a panic,  a mad 
flight,  and  a rally  round  the  person  of  the  Prophet. 
Mahommed  was  felled  to  the  ground,  and  for  a few 
minutes  the  course  of  history  was  doubtful  ; but  his 
personal  friends  protected  his  body,  raised  him,  and 
with  the  broken  army  made  for  the  rocks  and  defiles 
of  Ohod.  The  victors  approached,  and  taunted  their 
defeated  enemies  ; but  a charge  up  the  rocks,  in  the 
teeth  of  Moslem  soldiers,  was  beyond  their  courage, 
and  they  retired  slowly  to  their  own  city.  The 
Moslem  also  returned  to  Medina,  to  find  every 
element  of  disaffection  at  full  work.  Seventy-four 
of  the  army  had  fallen,  and  every  man  was  in  an 
Arab  tribe  known  and  classed  like  an  English  noble. 
The  charm  of  invincibility  which  attached  to  the 
Prophet  was  shattered,  the  Jews  were  sarcastic,  and 
the  Medinese  openly  murmured  that  if  Badr  were 
the  seal  of  Islam,  Ohod  showed  the  visible  wrath 
of  the  Almighty.  The  refugees,  however,  had  seen 
worse  days  than  these.  The  Prophet  stood,  as 


194 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


usual  in  disaster,  firm  and  gentle.  He  passed  over 
Abdallah’s  desertion,  ordered  a mock  pursuit  of  the 
Koreish,  which  gave  the  talkers  something  to  dis- 
cuss, and,  in  a thundering  Sura,  comforted  the 
faithful,  and  threatened  the  wrath  of  God  on  the 
disaffected.  “ Who  am  I,”  he  said,  “ that  I should 
not  be  defeated  ? ” 

Mahommed  is  no  more  than  an  Apostle,  as  other  Apostles  that 
have  gone  before  him.  What  ! if  he  were  to  die  or  be  killed,  must 
ye  needs  turn  back  upon  your  heels  ? He  that  turneth  back  upon 
his  heels  injureth  not  God  in  the  least  degree  ; but  God  will  reward 
the  thankful. 

‘Furthermore,  no  soul  dieth  but  by  the  permission  of  God,  as 
it  is  written  and  predestined.  . . . 

‘ How  many  prophets  have  fought  against  those  that  had  multi- 
tudes on  their  side.  And  they  were  not  cast  down  at  that  which 
befell  them  fighting  in  the  way  of  God,  neither  did  they  become 
weak,  nor  make  themselves  abject ; and  God  loveth  the  perse- 
vering.’ ” 

The  magic  eloquence  of  the  leader  completed  the 
work  ; and  never  was  Mahommed  stronger  with  his 
followers  than  a month  after  the  defeat  of  Ohod. 

The  remainder  of  the  year  (625)  passed  in  expe- 
ditions of  various  issue.  The  Beni  Asad,  a power- 
ful clan  who  were  connected  with  the  Koreish,  and 
raised  the  standard  against  Medina,  were  plundered 
and  dispersed  ; but  on  the  other  hand,  seventy 
Moslem  were  decoyed  by  the  Beni  Amar  into  their 
hands,  under  pretext  of  desiring  teachers  for  the 
faith,  and  treacherously  put  to  death.  The  Beni 
Nadhir,  a Jewish  tribe,  were  driven  from  their  pos- 
sessions, and  their  estates  divided  among  the  refu- 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


*95 


gees,  who  thus  rose  into  instant  affluence.  With 
1,500  men  Mahommed  maintained  his  camp  for  eight 
days  at  Badr,  waiting  attack  from  the  Arab  world  ; 
and  next  year  he  advanced  by  a march  of  more  than 
a month  along  the  border  of  Syria.  The  Beni 
Mustalick  had,  it  would  seem,  menaced  him ; but 
the  tribe  was  surrounded,  and  the  prisoners,  after 
a short  hesitation,  embraced  the  creed  of  Medina. 
These  petty  expeditions  were,  however,  only  the 
preparations  for  a new  danger. 

The  Koreish  could  neither  forgive  Mahommed, 
nor  escape  the  idea  that  he  was  to  them  an  imminent 
and  ever-pressing  peril.  They  resolved  on  an  effort 
which  gives  a high  idea  at  once  of  their  strength 
and  weakness.  Summoning  all  their  allies,  they 
advanced,  in  February,  627,  on  Medina,  and  besieged 
it  with  an  army  of  10,000  men.  Such  a force 
menaced  the  city  with  destruction,  but  its  hour  had 
not  arrived.  Mahommed  had  in  his  ranks  a man 
who  knew  something  of  Roman  fortification,  and 
when  the  Meccans  arrived  under  the  walls  they 
found  themselves  confronted  by  a deep  ditch.  They 
exclaimed  loudly  against  the  cowardice  of  the  device, 
but  they  could  not  pass  the  ditch,  and  fell  back  on 
stratagem.  They  made  an  agreement  with  the 
strongest  Jewish  tribe  left  in  the  city,  the  Koreitza, 
to  attack  Mahommed  from  behind,  while  they  them- 
selves essayed  to  pass  the  trench.  Mahommed,  how- 
ever, discovered  the  plot,  and  by  a clever  device — 
which  Mr.  Muir  must  pardon  us  for  saying  is  quite 


196 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


within  allowable  military  expedients,  and  was  imi- 
tated by  Major  Edwardes  with  effect  at  the  siege 
of  Mooltan — he  contrived  to  make  each  party  think 
the  other  was  watching  to  betray  them.  The  grand 
attack  therefore  failed  ignominiously  ; a few  Koreish 
only  leaping  the  trench,  to  be  speared  without  mercy. 
An  Arab  army  had  no  commissariat.  Provisions 
ran  short,  the  weather  was  wretched,  and  at  last, 
after  fifteen  days  of  the  siege,  Abu  Sofian,  irritated 
to  madness  by  personal  discomfort,  leaped  on  his 
horse,  and  rode  away  to  Mecca.  The  great  army 
melted  away,  and  Mahommed  turned  on  his  domestic 
foes.  He  besieged  the  Koreitza  in  their  faubourg, 
and  after  a brief  resistance  they  surrendered  at  dis- 
cretion. The  Beni  Aws  begged  hard  for  their  lives 
as  old  allies,  and  Mahommed  promised  the  doom  of 
the  Jews  should  be  fixed  by  a man  of  the  allied 
clan.  He  selected  Sad  ibn  Muadz,  who  accepted 
the  office,  and  took  an  oath  from  the  people  to  stand 
by  his  decision.  To  the  dismay  of  his  kinsmen, 
rearing  his  mighty  figure  above  the  crowd,  he  pro- 
nounced the  awful  sentence — the  men  to  death,  the 
women  to  slavery  ; and  the  doom  was  accepted  by 
Mahommed.  The  Koreitza, eight  hundred  in  number, 
were  slain  in  batches,  and  the  bodies  buried,  while 
the  women  were  carried  away.  “ Islam  has  cut  all 
ties,”  was  the  stern  comment  of  the  allies  of  the 
murdered  tribe.  This  was  the  worst  deed  ever 
sanctioned  by  Mahommed,  but  there  is  a word  to  be  _ 
said  in  his  defence.  He  undoubtedly  regarded  these 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


*97 


men  as  traitors  as  well  as  rebels,  and  there  is  not 
the  slightest  evidence  that  the  Koreitza,  even  by 
European  codes,  had  not  deserved  their  doom. 
They  had  plotted  against  their  own  allies  on  the 
battlefield,  and  there  is  no  European  general  who 
would  not  have  pronounced  them  worthy  of  death, 
however  strongly  the  modern  respect  for  life  might 
have  modified  his  actual  sentence.  In  this  affair,  as 
in  the  execution  of  one  or  two  private  individuals, 
Mahommed  acted  simply  as  an  Oriental  prince,  neither 
better  nor  worse ; and  we  shall  presently  see  how 
little  personal  enmity  ever  influenced  his  decisions. 

The  fifth  year  of  the  Hegira,  a.d.  627,  passed 
away  in  comparative  tranquillity.  Mahommed  still 
seemed  far  from  his  aim — the  mastery  of  Arabia ; 
but  his  expeditions  continued,  and  every  foray 
brought  him  wealth,  disciples,  and  increase  of  repu- 
tation. In  one  of  these  raids  his  men  punished 
some  prisoners  guilty  of  treachery  in  a manner  so 
barbarous,  that  Mahommed  published  a revelation 
making  death  by  the  sword,  cord,  or  crucifixion,  the 
only  capital  punishments  a Moslem  could  lawfully 
inflict.  The  mutilation  of  the  hand  was  alone 
retained  for  larceny,  a punishment  certainly  cruel  ; 
but  not  so  especially  cruel  in  relation  to  the  crime  as 
Europeans  will  be  apt  to  believe.  All  Asiatics  hold 
larceny  a crime  only  second  to  murder.  English- 
men of  the  educated  class,  rich  in  all  necessaries, 
and  habitually  careless,  cannot  even  conceive  the 
irritation  the  practice  of  small  theft  creates  in  a 


198 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


poverty-stricken  community,  to  whom  everything 
is  valuable,  and  by  whom  everything  is  remembered. 
They  will  not  endure  it ; and  to  this  day  the  first 
charge  of  a native  of  India  against  the  British 
Government  is  its  leniency  to  larceny,  and  the  second 
most  frequent  cause  of  murder  is  the  determination 
of  the  people  to  punish  theft  with  corporal  chastise- 
ment carried  to  an  extreme.  Mr.  Muir  rightly  con- 
demns mutilation ; but  when  he  styles  the  law  one 
which  reflects  discredit  on  Mahommed,  he  should 
remember  that  it  is  not  sixty  years  since  English 
bankers  clamoured  for  the  retention  of  death  as  the 
only  true  punishment  for  forgery. 

In  the  sixth  year  of  the  flight,  a.d.  628,  Mahommed 
determined  to  bring  himself  once  more  in  contact 
with  the  representatives  of  all  Arabia,  by  attending 
the  annual  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  He  started  with 
a powerful  force,  hoping,  apparently,  that  the 
Meccans  would  be  too  jealous  for  the  prerogative  of 
their  city  to  refuse  entrance  even  to  him.  He  was 
disappointed,  and  in  his  anxiety  to  be  once  more 
enabled  to  visit  the  city  he  so  greatly  loved,  he 
signed  a treaty  of  amity  with  his  determined  foes. 
Under  its  provisions,  which  were  to  be  valid  for  ten 
years,  all  Arabs  who  chose  were  to  join  him  without 
opposition  from  the  Koreish,  and  all  Moslems  who 
chose  were  to  abandon  him  without  punishment. 
The  Meccans,  moreover,  were  to  give  the  shrine  up 
to  his  followers  for  three  days  in  every  year.  En- 
trance for  that  year  was,  however,  refused,  and 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


199 


Mahommed  returned  to  send  ambassadors  abroad  to 
four  of  the  sovereigns  whose  reputation  had  reached 
Arabia.  Heraclius,  Emperor  of  Byzantium,  then 
in  the  full  tide  of  victory  over  Chosroes,  received 
the  summons  to  embrace  Islam  and  obey  the  Pro- 
phet in  a plainly  worded  letter,  which,  of  course,  he 
laid  aside ; Siroes,  King  of  Persia,  tore  up  his  mis- 
sive, provoking  from  Mahommed  the  exclamation, 
that  his  kingdom  should  be  similarly  torn  in  pieces  ; 
Mukoukas,  the  Roman,  or  rather  Greek,  Governor 
of  Egypt,  had  a nearer  view  of  the  power  of  his 
strange  correspondent.  He  answered  kindly,  and 
sent  to  Mahommed  a present  of  two  Coptic  slave- 
girls,  one  of  whom,  Mary,  is  the  heroine  of  many  a 
Mussulman  legend,  and  would,  had  her  son  Ibrahim 
lived,  have  been  in  all  probability  regarded  to  this 
day  as  the  sainted  mother  of  dynasties.  The  Prince 
of  Abyssinia  alone,  it  is  said,  obeyed  the  missive,  and 
even  that  solitary  concession  rests  upon  no  evidence 
but  Mahommedan  tradition,  and  Abyssinia  remains 
Christian  to  this  day.  The  embassies  are  curious 
proofs  of  Mahommed’s  absolute  confidence  in  his 
own  empire,  and  as  the  only  positive  indications  of 
that  vast  ambition  which  the  achievements  of  his 
successors  reflected  back  upon  his  character.  Every 
creed  claims  to  be  universal ; but  that  Mahommed 
ever  contemplated  distinctly  the  conquest  of  the 
world  is  to  our  minds  more  than  doubtful.  He 
hoped,  perhaps,  for  Syria,  but  his  distinct  policy  was 
limited  to  Syria,  and  the  first  mighty  outflow  of 


200 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Arabia  upon  civilization  was  caused  by  the  necessity 
of  finding  occupation  for  the  tribes  who  groaned  and 
fretted  under  the  yoke  of  his  successor. 

We  must  pass  more  briefly  over  one  or  two  years 
studded  with  incident  and  adventure,  to  arrive  at 
the  crowning  achievement  of  Mahommed’s  life.  In 
the  same  year,  a.d.  628,  he  conquered  Kheibar,  one 
of  the  richest  valleys  in  Arabia,  occupied  by  Jews, 
and  divided  the  lands  among  his  followers.  It  was 
a woman  of  this  tribe  who,  by  giving  him  a poisoned 
shoulder  of  mutton,  laid,  in  Mussulman  ideas,  the 
foundation  of  the  disease  which  afterwards  proved 
mortal.  Mahommed,  however,  was  now  sixty  years 
old,  and  it  seems  clear  that  he  never  swallowed  any 
of  the  poison,  which  was  probably  the  well-known 
datura , or  juice  of  the  hemlock.  In  the  following 
year  he  completed  his  pledge  of  visiting  Mecca,  and 
the  Koreish,  tired  with  contest,  adhered  to  their 
agreement.  For  three  days  he  was  placed  in  pos- 
session of  the  shrine,  and  there  for  the  first  time  he 
fulfilled  all  the  rites  of  Islam  in  the  appointed  centre 
of  the  faith.  He  retired  on  the  expiration  of  the 
three  days ; but  the  appointed  hour  was  drawing 
near  when  the  labour  of  a life  was  to  be  crowned 
with  the  full  measure  of  success.  The  Prophet  was 
growing  old,  and  had  as  yet  done  little  which  could 
survive  his  death.  He  was  master  of  Medina,  it  is 
true,  general  of  a powerful  army,  suzerain  of  nume- 
rous tribes,  and  with  a reputation  which  extended 
wherever  the  Arab  orators  contended  for  eloquence  ; 


THE  GREAT  ARABIAN 


201 


but  he  was  still  only  a local  notability.  The  Arabs 
still  looked  to  Mecca  as  the  pivot  on  which  the 
politics  of  the  peninsula  ought  to  turn ; till  Mecca 
was  gained,  Arabia  as  a whole  was  unsubdued,  and 
the  conquest  of  the  sacred  city  became  an  object  of 
intense  burning  desire.  He  resolved  to  make  a 
final  effort  to  secure  it,  and  the  Koreish  gave  him  a 
fair  opportunity.  They  allowed  an  allied  sept  to 
harry  a small  Meccan  clan  because  they  adhered  to 
Mahommed,  and  thus,  whether  wilfully  or  otherwise, 
broke  the  treaty  of  amity.  The  injured  family,  the 
Beni  Khozaa,  applied  to  Mahommed  for  redress, 
which  he  promised  with  a solemn  asseveration.  He 
at  once  raised  his  standard,  and  summoning  his  allies 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  eight  thousand  men. 
With  this  army  he  marched  suddenly  on  Mecca, 
where  a great  change  had  apparently  occurred. 
Abu  Sofian  had  either  been  wearied  out,  or  was 
aware  that  resistance  was  hopeless,  while  the 
Koreish  may  be  presumed  to  have  become  doubtful 
of  the  wisdom  of  further  war.  They  made  no  pre- 
parations for  resistance,  and  Abu  Sofian,  who  had 
gone  out  to  reconnoitre,  was  taken,  apparently  a 
willing  prisoner,  to  Mahommed.  The  scene  which 
followed  is  probably  as  true  as  most  historical  anec- 
dotes, and  is  exquisitely  illustrative  at  once  of  Arab 
manners  and  Mahommedan  legendary  style. 

“ 1 Out  upon  thee , Abu  Sofian  /’  cried  Mahommed,  as  the  Kore- 
ishite  chief  drew  near.  ‘ Hast  thou  not  yet  discovered  that  there  is 
no  God  but  the  Lord  alone  ? ’ ‘ Noble  and  generous  sire  ! Had 


202 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


there  been  any  God  beside,  verily  he  had  been  of  some  avail  to 
me.’  ‘ And  dost  thou  not  acknowledge  that  I am  the  Prophet  of 
the  Lor d?  ’ continued  Mahommed.  ‘ Noble  sire  ! As  to  this  thing 
there  is  yet  in  my  heart  some  hesitancy.’  ‘ Woe  is  thee  ! ’ ex- 
claimed Abbas  ; ‘ it  is  no  time  for  hesitancy,  this.  Believe  and 
testify  at  once  the  creed  of  Islam,  or  else  thy  head  shall  be  severed 
from  thy  body  ! ’ It  was,  indeed,  no  time  for  idle  pride  or 
scruple ; and  so  Abu  Sofian,  seeing  no  alternative  left  to  him, 
repeated  the  formula  of  belief  in  God  and  in  His  Prophet.  What  a 
moment  of  exultation  it  must  have  been  for  Mahommed  when  he 
saw  the  great  leader  of  the  Koreish  a suppliant  believer  at  his 
feet ! ‘ Haste  thee  to  Mecca  ! ’ he  said ; for  he  knew  well  when 

to  show  forbearance  and  generosity.  ‘ Haste  thee  to  the  city  : no 
one  that  taketh  refuge  in  the  house  of  Abu  Sofian  shall  be  harmed. 
And  hearken  ! speak  unto  the  people,  that  whoever  closeth  the 
door  of  his  house,  the  inmates  thereof  shall  escape.’  Abu  Sofian 
hastened  to  retire.  But  before  he  could  quit  the  camp,  the  forces 
were  already  under  arms,  and  were  being  marshalled  in  their  re- 
spective columns.  Standing  by  Abbas,  he  watched  in  amazement 
the  various  tribes,  each  defiling,  with  the  banner  given  to  it  by 
Mahommed,  into  its  proper  place.  One  by  one  the  different  clans 
were  pointed  out  by  name,  and  recognized.  ‘ And  what  is  that 
black  mass,’  asked  Abu  Sofian,  ‘ with  dark  mail  and  shining 
lances  ? ’ ‘ It  is  the  flower  of  the  chivalry  of  Mecca  and  Medina,’ 

replied  Abbas  ; ‘ the  favoured  band  that  guards  the  person  of  the 
Prophet.’  ‘ Truly,’  exclaimed  the  astonished  chief,  ‘ this  kingdom 
of  thy  uncle’s  is  a mighty  kingdom.’  ‘Nay,  Abu  Sofian,  he  is 
more  than  a king — he  is  a mighty  Prophet ! ’ ‘ Yes  ; thou  sayest 

truly.  Now  let  me  go.’  ‘Away!’  said  Abbas.  ‘Speed  thee  to 
thy  people  ! ’ ” 

On  the  following  morning  the  army  divided  into 
four  columns,  and  entered  the  city  on  all  sides, 
unopposed  except  by  a few  fanatics,  who  endeavoured 
on  one  side  to  keep  up  a running  and  ineffectual 
fight ; and  Mahommed  stood  at  last  lord  of  the  city 
from  which  eight  years  before  he  had  fled  a hunted 


THE  GREAT  ARAB/AH 


203 


fugitive.  It  was  still  filled  with  enemies,  but  the 
magnitude  of  his  triumph  had  softened  his  heart, 
and  he  spared  all  save  four,  the  exceptions  being 
men  who  had  injured  or  insulted  him  or  his  family, 
and  a woman  who  had  circulated  satirical  verses — 
an  offence  Mahommed  never  forgave.  The  effect  of 
this  generous  conduct  was  instantly  apparent.  The 
Meccans  gave  in  their  adhesion  in  a body,  and 
Mussulman  writers  record  with  admiration  that 
among  them,  when  they  did  at  last  give  way,  there 
were  no  disaffected.  The  strength  thus  added  to 
Mahommed  was  important,  but  before  using  it  Mecca 
was  to  be  cleared  of  idolatry.  The  pictures  of 
angels  within  the  shrine  had  been  removed  on  his 
first  entry,  and  now  Mahommed  ordered  the  idols  to 
be  hewn  down  : Ozza  and  Lat  fell  with  a terrible 
crash,  and  Mahommed,  as  he  stood  gazing  on  the 
destruction,  an  old  man,  with  the  work  of  twenty  years 
at  last  accomplished,  must  have  felt  that  he  had  not 
lived  in  vain.  With  Ozza  and  Lat,  though  he  knew 
it  not,  crashed  down  the  whole  fabric  of  Arabian 
idolatry  ; and  the  land,  though  for  twelve  hundred 
years  rent  with  strife,  though  the  tribes  whom  he 
bound  together  have  fallen  asunder,  and  all  other 
traditions  have  revived,  has  never  gone  back — 
never  showed  the  desire  to  go  back — to  pagan 
worship.  That  one  work,  small  or  great,  terminated 
then  ; but  to  Mahommed  it  seemed  as  if  too  much  was 
still  left  to  do. 

Scarcely  had  Mecca  been  purified  when  the  Pro- 


204 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


phet  summoned  its  subject  clans,  and  with  an  army 
swelled  to  12,000  men  set  out  to  subjugate  Tayif, 
the  city  which  had  stoned  him  when,  alone  and 
unarmed,  he  visited  it  to  demand  obedience  in  the 
name  of  the  Most  High  to  a banished  and  powerless 
member  of  the  Koreish.  On  his  road  he  was  met 
by  the  Beni  Hawazin,  the  powerful  tribe  settled 
round  Tayif,  and  narrowly  escaped  defeat.  The 
Hawazin  charged  down  a defile,  and  the  army  of 
Islam,  taken  by  surprise,  fell  into  a panic,  and 
commenced  a precipitate  retreat.  Mahommed,  how- 
ever, knew  that  no  army  existed  in  Arabia  compe- 
tent to  face  his  own,  and  standing  firm,  he  ordered 
a follower  of  stentorian  lungs  to  summon  the  Medi- 
nese  to  his  standard.  They  rallied  round  him  in- 
stantly, and  the  dismayed  Mahommedans,  re-forming 
behind  them,  charged  upon  the  Beni  Hawazin. 
The  victory  was  complete,  and  the  Prophet  passed 
on  unmolested  to  Tayif.  He  failed,  however,  before 
the  city,  chiefly  from  the  Arab  impossibility  of 
keeping  an  army  together  without  commissariat,  and 
he  returned  to  Mecca.  The  property  of  the  Hawa- 
zin was,  however,  divided,  and  Mahommed  exhausted 
his  personal  wealth  in  enriching  his  new  allies.  So 
lavish  were  his  gifts,  indeed,  that  the  Medinese 
murmured,  and  Mahommed  had,  for  the  fiftieth  time, 
to  appeal  to  his  rare  gift  of  eloquence  to  allay  their 
discontent.  Readers  of  Parliamentary  debates  will 
perhaps  catch  in  this  scene  a glimpse  of  the  true 
orator. 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


205 


“ He  then  addressed  them  in  these  words  : * Ye  men  of  Medina, 
it  hath  been  reported  to  me  that  ye  are  disconcerted,  because  I 
have  given  unto  these  chiefs  largesses,  and  have  given  nothing 
unto  you.  Now  speak  unto  me.  Did  I not  come  unto  you 
whilst  ye  were  wandering,  and  the  Lord  gave  you  the  right 
Direction? — needy,  and  He  enriched  you? — at  enmity  amongst 
yourselves,  and  He  hath  filled  your  hearts  with  love  and  unity  ? ’ 
He  paused  for  a reply.  ‘ Indeed,  it  is  even  as  thou  sayest,’  they 
answered ; ‘ to  the  Lord  and  to  His  Prophet  belong  benevolence 
and  grace.’  ‘ Nay,  by  the  Lord  ! ’ continued  Mahommed,  ‘ but  ye 
might  have  answered  (and  answered  truly,  for  I would  have  veri- 
fied it  myself), — Thou  earnest  to  Medina  rejected  as  an  impostor , 
and  we  bore  witness  to  thy  veracity  ; thou  earnest  a helpless  fugitive , 
and  we  assisted  thee  ; an  outcast , and  we  gave  thee  an  asylum  ; desti- 
tute, and  we  solaced  thee.  Why  are  ye  disturbed  in  mind  because 
of  the  things  of  this  life,  wherewith  I have  sought  to  incline  the 
hearts  of  these  men  unto  Islam,  whereas  ye  are  already  steadfast 
in  your  faith  ? Are  ye  not  satisfied  that  others  should  obtain  the 
flocks  and  the  camels,  while  ye  carry  back  the  Prophet  of  the 
Lord  unto  your  homes?  No,  I will  not  leave  you  for  ever.  If 
all  mankind  went  one  way,  and  the  men  of  Medina  another  way, 
verily  I would  go  the  way  of  the  men  of  Medina.  The  Lord  be 
favourable  unto  them,  and  bless  them,  and  their  sons,  and  their 
sons’  sons  for  ever ! ’ At  these  words  all  wept  till  the  tears  ran 
down  upon  their  beards ; and  they  called  out  with  one  voice — 
‘ Yea,  we  are  well  satisfied,  O Prophet,  with  our  lot ! ’ ” 

Tayif  did  not  escape.  A converted  chief  agreed 
to  keep  the  inhabitants  within  their  walls  ; and  tired 
out  by  a blockade  which  seemed  endless,  the  citizens 
gave  way.  They  asked  privilege  after  privilege — 
exemption  from  obedience,  exemption  from  prayer, 
the  safety  of  their  idols  ; but  Mahommed  could  not 
yield ; and  stipulating  only  for  the  safety  of  a 
hunting-forest,  they  surrendered  themselves  into  his 
hands.  He  was  by  this  time  at  home  in  Medina, 


206 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


whence  he  sent  forth  his  collectors  throughout  the 
tribes  which  acknowledged  his  rule  to  collect  the 
tithes.  A new  income-tax  of  ten  per  cent,  would  be 
felt  as  onerous  even  in  England  ; but  the  collectors 
were  only  once  resisted,  and  usually  welcomed  with 
acclamation.  He,  moreover,  either  from  policy  or 
really  alarmed,  as  he  alleged,  at  a rumour  that  the 
Greek  emperor  was  about  to  march  on  him,  ordered 
a general  levy  of  his  followers.  His  power  was  not 
consolidated  even  in  the  Hejaz,  and  many  of  the 
Arabs  refused  to  obey.  The  Medinese,  weary  with 
exertion,  stayed  at  home  ; but  still  the  gathering 
proved  that  the  fugitive  had  become  a mighty 
prince.  An  army  such  as  had  never  been  seen 
in  Arabia,  an  army  of  20,000  foot  and  10,000 
cavalry,  followed  him  to  the  Syrian  border,  and 
subdued  for  him  the  whole  of  the  Christian  or 
demi-Christian  tribes  in  the  North.  The  Prophet 
felt  that  the  time  was  come.  All  Arabs,  save  of  the 
faith,  were  solemnly  interdicted  from  Mecca,  and  a 
new  revelation  declared  that  the  object  of  Islam  was 
the  extirpation  of  idolatry.  Conversions  now  flowed 
in  fast,  and  the  tenth  year  of  the  Hegira  was  a year 
of  embassies.  The  “ king  ” of  Oman  surrendered 
all  authority  to  Mahommed’s  lieutenant,  Amru. 
The  princes  of  Yemen,  the  Himyarte  dynasty  (the 
foundations  of  whose  palaces  Captain  Playfair  has 
just  turned  up  at  Aden),  accepted  the  new  faith. 
The  Hadhramaut  followed  the  example  ; and  as 
each  tribe  gave  way,  assessors,  armed  with  the  new 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


207 


code,  entered  their  territory,  terminated  mildly  all 
existing  authorities,  and  bound  the  district  fast  to 
Islam  and  Mahommed.  The  great  tribe  of  the  Beni 
Aamir  was  almost  the  last  to  yield  ; but  it  yielded, 
and  in  630  the  Prophet,  master  of  Arabia,  uttered 
his  final  address  to  the  representatives  of  the  penin- 
sula, assembled  on  pilgrimage  at  Mecca.  Mahommed 
had  lived  for  twenty  years  a life  which  would  have 
hardened  the  heart  and  ulcerated  the  temper  of 
almost  any  man  now  living — a life  such  as  that  which 
in  seven  years  made  Frederick  of  Prussia  a malicious 
despot.  But  there  are  natures  which  trouble  does 
not  sear  ; and  Mahommed,  in  this  his  last  address, 
solemnly  proclaimed  throughout  Arabia  a law  of 
universal  brotherhood.  Though  inartistic  in  form, 
we  do  not  know  in  literature  a nobler  effort  of  the 
highest  kind  of  oratory,  of  the  rhetoric  which  con- 
veys at  once  guidance  and  command. 

“ ‘ Ye  People  ! Hearken  to  my  words  ; for  I know  not 
whether,  after  this  year,  I shall  ever  be  amongst  you  here  again. 

‘Your  Lives  and  Property  are  sacred  and  inviolable  amongst 
one  another  until  the  end  of  time. 

‘ The  Lord  hath  ordained  to  every  man  the  share  of  His 
inheritance  : a Testament  is  not  lawful  to  the  prejudice  of  heirs. 

* The  child  belongeth  to  the  Parent : and  the  violator  of  Wed- 
lock shall  be  stoned. 

‘ Whoever  claimeth  falsely  another  for  his  father,  or  another  for 
his  master,  the  curse  of  God  and  the  Angels,  and  of  all  Mankind, 
shall  rest  upon  him. 

‘ Ye  People  ! Ye  have  rights  demandable  of  your  Wives,  and 
they  have  rights  demandable  of  you.  Upon  them  it  is  incumbent 
not  to  violate  their  conjugal  faith  nor  commit  any  act  of  open 
impropriety  ; — which  things  if  they  do,  ye  have  authority  to  shut 


208 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


them  up  in  separate  apartments  and  to  beat  them  with  stripes,  yet 
not  severely.  But  if  they  refrain  therefrom,  clothe  them  and 
feed  them  suitably.  And  treat  your  Women  well  : for  they  are 
with  you  as  captives  and  prisoners  • they  have  not  power  over 
anything  as  regards  themselves.  And  ye  have  verily  taken  them 
on  the  security  of  God  : and  have  made  their  persons  lawful  unto 
you  by  the  words  of  God. 

‘ And  your  slaves  ! See  that  ye  feed  them  with  such  food  as 
ye  eat  yourselves  ; and  clothe  them  with  the  stuff  ye  wear.  And 
if  they  commit  a fault  which  ye  are  not  inclined  to  forgive,  then 
sell  them,  for  they  are  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  and  are  not  to  be 
tormented. 

‘Ye  People  ! hearken  to  my  speech  and  comprehend  the  same. 
Know  that  every  Moslem  is  the  brother  of  every  other  Moslem. 
All  of  you  are  on  the  same  equality  ’ (and  as  he  pronounced 
these  words,  he  raised  his  arms  aloft  and  placed  the  forefinger  of 
one  hand  on  the  forefinger  of  the  other).  ‘Ye  are  one  brother- 
hood. 

‘ Know  ye  what  month  this  is  ? — What  territory  is  this  1 — What 
day  V To  each  question  the  People  gave  the  appropriate  answer, 
viz.  ‘ The  Sacred  Month, — the  Sacred  Territory, — the  great  day 
of  Pilgrimage.’  After  every  one  of  these  replies,  Mahommed 
added  : ‘ Even  thus  sacred  and  inviolable  hath  God  made  the  Life 
and  the  Property  of  each  of  you  unto  the  other , until  ye  meet  your 
Lord. 

‘ Let  him  that  is  present,  tell  it  unto  him  that  is  absent. 
Haply,  he  that  shall  be  told,  may  remember  better  than  he  who 
hath  heard  it.’  ” 

This  was  the  last  public  appearance  of  Mahommed. 
In  the  eleventh  year  of  the  Flight,  while  still  only 
sixty-three,  he  issued  orders  foi  a levy  to  subjugate 
the  Syrian  desert,  and  invested  Osma,  a lad,  but  the 
son  of  Zeid,  with  the  supreme  command  ; but  his 
hour  had  arrived.  In  the  beginning  of  Safar  a 
deadly  fever  came  upon  him,  and  he  announced 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


209 


to  the  weeping  congregation  assembled  in  the 
mosque  at  Medina  his  own  approaching  decease. 
The  exertion  increased  the  disease,  and  after  four 
days  of  suffering,  during  which  the  burden  of  his 
speech  was  always  of  suffering  as  an  expiation  for 
sin,  he  gradually  sank,  retaining,  however,  to  the 
last  somewhat  of  the  ancient  fire.  With  a quaint 
touch  of  satiric  humour,  he  punished  all  his  wives 
for  giving  him  physic  by  making  them  take  it  too, 
and  on  Monday  he  even  joined  in  the  prayers  for 
his  own  recovery  in  the  mosque.  This,  however, 
was  his  last  effort;  and  on  the  8th  June,  632, 
exclaiming  at  intervals,  “ The  Lord  grant  me 
pardon,”  “ Pardon,”  “ The  blessed  companionship 
on  high,”  he  stretched  himself  gently,  and  was 
dead. 

The  events  which  followed  his  death — the  election 
of  Omar,  the  revolt  and  subjugation  of  the  Arabs, 
the  pouring  out  of  the  tribes  to  the  conquest  of  the 
world,  the  long  and  marvellous  story  of  the  Caliphs 
— are  better  known  than  those  of  his  own  life.  Our 
only  remaining  duty  is  to  sum  up  his  character,  and 
record  his  special  influence  as  a legislator.  Upon 
his  character  as  a prince,  a leader  of  men,  there  will, 
we  imagine,  be  little  controversy.  No  man  in 
history  ever  rose  to  dominion  with  fewer  heavy 
stains  upon  his  character  ; none  ever  exhibited  more 
constancy,  or  a more  serene,  unwavering  wisdom. 
In  the  first  test  of  greatness,  wealth  of  loving 
friends,  none  ever  approached  Mahommed.  Alex- 

p 


210 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ander  had  friends  of  a sort,  but  Hephsestion  was  not 
of  the  stamp  of  Abu  Bekr,  and  the  majority  of 
heroes  have  been  lonely  men.  It  is  as  a Prophet 
only  that  he  will  be  seriously  condemned,  and 
doubtless  his  prophetical  pretensions  coloured  his 
whole  life.  We  can  but  state  a strong  conviction 
when  we  affirm  that  a series  of  minute  facts  leave  no 
doubt  on  our  mind  that  Mahommed  was  from  first 
to  last  absolutely  sincere.  He  really  believed  that 
any  strong  conviction,  even  any  strong  wish,  that  he 
entertained  was  borne  in  upon  him  by  a power 
external  to  himself;  and  as  the  first  and  most 
memorable  of  these  convictions  was  faith  in  God, 
he  believed  that  power  to  be  God,  and  himself  its 
Messenger.  The  mode  of  expressing  his  convic- 
tions was  undoubtedly  an  invention  ; but  that  the 
basis  of  his  faith  in  himself  was  sincere,  admits,  to 
our  mind,  of  little  question.  This  strength  of 
conviction  extended  even  to  his  legislative  acts,  and 
we  cannot  better  conclude  this  brief  notice  of  his 
career  than  by  a glance  at  his  true  position  as  a 
legislator.  Politically,  it  is  easy  to  understand  his 
position.  Believing  himself  the  Messenger  of  the 
Almighty,  no  position  save  that  of  despot  was 
possible  to  him,  and  he  made  on  this  point  no 
provision  for  the  future.  The  Mahommedans  deduce 
from  his  opinions  the  idea  that  the  Caliph  is  vice- 
gerent of  God,  and  of  course  absolute  ; but  no  such 
theory  is  laid  down  in  the  Koran,  and  the  Waha- 
bees,  the  strictest  of  Mussulman  sects,  acknowledge 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


21  I 


no  such  dogma.  Its  adoption  was  the  accidental 
result  of  the  movement  which  followed  his  death, 
and  which  compelled  the  Arabs  to  entrust  despotic 
authority  to  their  chief.  Mahommed  settled  nothing 
as  to  his  successors,  and  it  is  therefore  only  in  social 
questions  that  his  legislation  is  still  operative.  And 
even  here  we  are  almost  without  the  means  of 
knowing  what  were  the  principles  he  intended  to  lay 
down.  The  living  law  of  Mahommedanism  is  not 
to  be  found  in  the  Koran,  but  in  the  commentators 
— a set  of  the  most  vicious  scoundrels  who  ever 
disgraced  humanity,  whose  first  object  seems  to 
have  been  to  relax  the  plain  meaning  of  the  original 
edicts  as  far  as  practicable.  The  original  code  is  on 
most  points  just  enough.  The  law  as  regards  pro- 
perty differs  nothing  in  essentials  from  that  which 
prevails  in  Europe.  Property  is  sacred,  and  is 
pretty  fairly  divided  among  relatives.  Life  is  held 
in  reverence,  and  theft  is  prohibited,  even  with 
cruelty.  Truth  is  strongly  inculcated,  and  adherence 
to  treaties  declared  an  obligation  binding  on  the 
conscience.  Adultery  is  punished  with  death, 
though  that  provision  is  hampered  by  a curious  law 
of  evidence  ; and  reverence  for  parents  is  sedulously 
inculcated.  The  law,  in  fact,  except  on  one  point, 
differs  little  from  that  of  the  Twelve  Tables  ; but 
that  one  has  modified  all  Asiatic  society  for  evil. 
We  must  give  a few  words  to  an  unpleasant  topic. 

It  will  be  observed  that  we  have  said  nothing  of 
Mahommed’s  private  life,  of  which  all  biographers 


212 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


descant  so  much — of  his  eleven  wives  and  two  slave 
girls,  of  the  strangely  relaxed  law  of  the  sexes 
which  he  established,  and  of  his  own  departures 
even  from  that  loose  code.  The  omission  was 
intended,  for  we  conceive  too  much  has  always  been 
made  of  that  point  in  Mahommed’s  career.  In 
early  life,  temperate  to  a marvel  for  Arabia,  he  was 
undoubtedly  in  his  later  years  a man  loving  women. 
We  do  not  say  “ licentious  ” advisedly,  for  though 
all  things  good  and  bad  are  recorded  of  Mahommed, 
we  hear  of  no  seduction,  no  adultery,1  no  interfer- 
ence with  the  families  of  his  followers.  He  was 
simply  a man  loving  women,  and  heaping  up  wives, 
as  if  he  had  been  exempted  from  the  law  he  himself 
laid  down.  He  probably  thought  he  was,  as  his 
followers  undoubtedly  did,  and  personally  he  was  no 
worse  than  thousands  whom  modern  Europe  prac- 
tically condones.  He  was  no  better,  but  it  is  mere 
folly  to  say  that  his  legislation  was  exceptionally 
licentious.  What  he  did  as  regards  his  followers 
was  simply  this  : he  left  the  question  exactly  as  he 
found  it — did  not  rise  one  hairbreadth  above  the 
general  level  of  Oriental  opinion.  That  opinion  is 
doubtless  an  evil  one.  The  true  law  of  chastity, 
the  adherence  of  one  man  to  one  woman  as  long  as 
they  both  live,  is  written  in  a revelation  older  than 
any  book — in  the  great  law  which  makes  the 
numbers  of  the  sexes  equal.  That  law,  however, 
has  never  yet  reached  the  Oriental  mind.  It  is  the 
1 Zeinab  was  given  to  him,  not  taken. 


THE  GEE  AT  ARABIAN 


213 


fixed  opinion  of  Asiatics  that  the  relation  of  the 
sexes  is  a purely  physical  one,  and  not  subject  to 
any  inherent  law  at  all  ; modifiable,  it  is  true,  by 
external  legislation,  but  not  in  itself  a subject  of 
necessary  and  inevitable  moral  restraint.  Ma- 
hommed  made  no  attempt  to  alter  that  opinion.  He 
fixed  a limit  to  the  number  of  wives,  but  it  was 
not  intended  as  a moral  protection,  for  he  formally 
assigned  all  female  slaves  to  the  mercy  of  their 
masters.  He  left  a monstrous  evil  without  a remedy, 
and  for  so  doing  he  is  doubtless  to  be  condemned. 
But  that  he  introduced  a new  evil  is  untrue ; 
and  badly  as  the  system  he  sanctioned  works,  it  is 
rather  among  the  rich  and  the  powerful  than  among 
the  mass  of  his  followers  that  it  produces  utter 
corruption. 


Race-hatred  in  Asia 


THE  question  of  race-hatred  in  India,  which  has 
again  been  opened  by  Mr.  Wilfrid  Blunt, 
is,  politically,  not  so  important  as  it  seems  to  him 
and  to  most  Englishmen  to  be.  It  is  a little  like 
the  question  of  Socialism  in  a country  like  France 
or  the  United  States,  where  the  immense  majority 
of  the  potential  wielders  of  bayonets  own  property — 
that  is,  it  is  a question  of  high  intellectual  and 
social  interest,  but  not  exactly  a “ burning”  one. 
The  Government  of  India  rests  primarily  on  its 
ability  to  crush  instantly  and  infallibly  any  move- 
ment taking  the  form  of  armed  insurrection,  even  if 
it  be  a movement  among  its  native  soldiery  ; and, 
secondly,  on  the  acquiescence  of  enormous  numbers, 
almost  inconceivable  numbers,  of  industrious  and 
peaceable  peasants  holding  their  own  land  at  a quit- 
rent.  These  peasants  feel  no  race-hatred — that  is, 
though  they  may  hate  the  Government,  and  in 
certain  districts  and  at  certain  times  do  hate  it,  they 
do  not  hate  it  because  its  agents  are  white,  or 
Christian,  or  bad-mannered.  The  majority  of  them 
hardly  see  Europeans  during  their  whole  lives,  any 

214 


RACE-HATRED  IN  ASIA 


**5 


more  than  English  labourers  see  dukes,  never  come 
into  contact  with  them  socially,  and  are  aware  of 
them  only  in  those  capacities,  viz.  as  magistrates, 
judges,  and  revenue  collectors,  in  which  they  are 
least  obnoxious.  The  peasants  are  not  idiots,  and 
are  quite  aware,  as  they  showed  repeatedly  in  the 
Mutiny,  that  the  white  men’s  laws  are  just  and 
justly  administered.  Race-hatred,  so  far  as  it  exists, 
is  confined  to  the  great  towns,  which  have  not  in 
India  the  weight  they  have  in  Europe,  and  to  the 
minute  class  educated  in  European  learning,  which, 
as  yet  at  least,  does  not  seriously  influence  the 
country.  Still,  even  within  those  limits  an  increase 
of  race-hatred  is  to  be  regretted  ; and  we  wish  those 
who  lament  it  would  give  the  English  people  a little 
more  light  as  to  their  idea  of  the  practical  way  of 
preventing  it.  They  have  given  us  none  yet,  if,  as 
they  say,  race-hatred  increases  amidst  all  the 
changes  of  late  years  ; and  we  confess  we  doubt 
seriously  the  value  of  the  main  theory  upon  which 
they  found  their  arguments.  They  all,  though 
using  different  modes  of  expression,  assert  that  the 
remedy  is  ultimately  to  be  found  in  more  and  freer 
intercourse.  Mr.  Blunt  deplores  the  absence  of 
social  intimacies,  and  the  reluctance  of  the  two  races 
to  visit  each  other’s  houses,  even  regretting,  as  we 
understand  him,  the  disappearance  of  the  old  native 
mistresses,  who,  though  they  taught  their  lovers  the 
language,  so  poisoned  the  fount  of  justice  that  Lord 
Dalhousie,  when  organizing  the  Punjab  and  Burrnah. 


2l6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


took  a kind  of  pledge  from  officers  he  selected  not 
to  fall  into  the  old  rut.  Other  observers  propose 
united  Athenaeums,  others  make  a practice  of  hold- 
ing mixed  receptions,  and  others,  again,  start  clubs 
in  London  where  the  cultivated  of  both  races  may 
learn  to  understand  one  another.  The  remedy 
suggested  is,  in  fact,  more  association  ; and  we  are 
not  certain  that  it  is  not  altogether  the  wrong  one, 
and  whether  more  seclusion  from  each  other  would 
not  be  more  profitable  advice. 

It  is  very  difficult,  of  course,  for  an  Englishman, 
conscious  of  his  own  rectitude  of  purpose  and 
benevolence  of  feeling,  to  believe  that  he  will  not  be 
more  liked  when  he  is  better  known ; but  a good 
many  facts  seem  to  show  that  it  is  so.  He  is  not 
seen  and  talked  to  anywhere  by  men  of  a different 
race  so  much  as  he  is  in  Ireland,  and  he  is  not  hated 
quite  so  much  anywhere  else.  He  is  decidedly 
much  more  disliked  in  Egypt  since  he  appeared 
there  in  such  numbers.  He  is  more  hated  in  the 
sea-coast  towns  of  India,  where  he  is  prominent, 
busy,  and  constantly  talked  to,  than  he  is  in  the 
interior  where  he  is  rarely  seen  ; much  more  de- 
tested in  the  planter  districts  than  in  the  districts 
where  he  is  only  a rare  visitor.  If  there  is  con- 
tempt for  him  anywhere  in  India,  it  is  in  the  great 
towns,  not  in  the  rural  stations  where  he  is  so 
nearly  invisible  ; and  contempt  is  of  all  forms  of 
race-hatred  the  most  dangerous.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  Englishman  in  great  cities  is  often  a low 


RACE-HATRED  IN  ASIA 


217 


fellow,  but  that  is  not  a sufficient  explanation.  The 
officers  of  the  old  Army  were  not  low  fellows.  The 
broadest  of  all  facts  bearing  on  this  suggestion  of 
more  intercourse  is  the  fate  of  that  Army.  No  class 
of  natives  knew  the  Europeans  so  well  as  the 
Sepoys  knew  their  officers,  and  among  no  class  was 
that  knowledge  in  itself  so  little  irritating.  They 
were  notoriously  better  treated  than  the  men  of  any 
army,  the  etiquette  was  always  to  listen  to  their 
complaints,  there  was  a feeling  in  many  regiments 
that  the  relation  between  men  and  officers  should  be 
filial  and  paternal,  and  everywhere  the  officers  had 
been  true  leaders  in  battle — yet  the  Sepoys  slaugh- 
tered the  officers  out,  killing  also  their  wives  and 
children.  Association  had  in  that  case  only  deep- 
ened race-hatred.  It  certainly  does  not  extinguish 
it  in  the  Southern  States  of  America,  the  Nor- 
therners who  do  not  live  with  the  Blacks,  being  far 
more  disposed  to  do  them  justice,  though,  when  they 
emigrate  southwards,  they  often  display  a harder 
and  more  bitter  contempt.  The  Indian  who,  of  all 
the  heroes  of  the  Mutiny,  showed  the  most  bitter 
enmity  to  the  British  race  as  distinguished  from  the 
British  Government,  was  Azimoollah  Khan,  who 
had  lived  years  among  them,  and  knew  English 
perfectly ; while  no  white  dwellers  in  the  tropics  are 
quite  so  just  and  benevolent  towards  dark  races  as 
English  Members  of  Parliament,  who  never  saw 
them.  The  two  hundred  years  during  which  Span- 
iards and  Indians  have  dwelt  together  in  South 


2x8 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


America  have  not  softened  their  mutual  antipathy  ; 
and  the  Arab  who  has  lived  in  Paris  is,  when  he 
returns  to  his  tribe,  the  one  foe  to  be  dreaded  in 
Algeria.  In  truth,  if  we  are  to  take  facts  as  evi- 
dence, it  might  fairly  be  said  that  the  less  the  white 
and  the  coloured  races  come  into  contact  with  each 
other  the  less  is  the  development  of  race-hatred, 
which  only  tends  to  become  dangerous  when  they 
are  interspersed,  and  mutually  comprehend  one 
another’s  strength  and  weakness. 

We  suspect  that  it  is  in  reserve  rather  than 
association  that  protection  against  race-hatred 
should  be  sought,  and  would,  if  it  were  of  the 
slightest  use  to  write  on  such  a subject,  impress 
upon  all  Europeans  in  Egypt,  as  well  as  in  India, 
in  every  place  indeed  where  they  are  brought  in 
contact  with  the  dark  races,  a change,  not  of  habits, 
but  of  manners.  It  ought  to  be  an  inexorable 
etiquette  for  every  European  to  treat  every  native 
acquaintance  or  interlocutor — we  are  not  speaking 
of  friends — with  a grave  and  kindly  but  distant 
courtesy,  not  unlike  that  of  the  native  himself  in  his 
best  mood.  The  European’s  familiarity  is  sure  to 
be  offensive,  his  proclivity  to  “chaff”  is  disgusting, 
and  his  habitual  impatience — a foible  of  which  most 
Englishmen  are  scarcely  conscious — is  always  mis- 
taken for  anger.  Silence,  not  speech,  is  in  Asia  the 
mark  of  breeding,  and  a laugh  the  one  indulgence 
into  which  the  superior  is  never,  except  among  his 
closest  intimates,  betrayed.  All  Asiatics  attribute 


RACE-HATRED  IN  ASIA 


219 


to  almost  all  Englishmen  atrocious  manners,  chiefly 
because  Englishmen  are  so  impatient  of  loss  of  time  ; 
and  we  are  all  more  irritated  by  habitual  ill-manners, 
and  especially  ill-manners  indicating  contempt,  than 
by  any  ordinary  oppression.  Nine-tenths  of  the 
feeling  Mr.  Blunt  deplores,  and  wisely  deplores, 
proceeds  from  the  unintentional  ill-manners  of  the 
ruling  caste,  which  can  only  be  modified,  if  at  all, 
by  the  adoption  of  an  inexorable  etiquette,  any 
breach  of  which  Society  should  punish.  There  is, 
we  fear,  little  hope  of  the  adoption  of  such  a rule, 
the  Englishman  being  unable  to  rid  himself  of  the 
feeling  that  among  all  other  people  he  has  a right 
to  be  unbuttoned,  or  to  be,  at  all  events,  himself ; 
but  it  is  in  this  direction,  and  this  only,  that  a 
genuine  advance  towards  friendly  relations  is  to  be 
made.  No  native  of  India  who  comes  in  contact 
with  Lord  Dufferin  will  feel  race-hatred  towards 
him,  or  would,  even  if  the  result  of  the  interview 
were  an  order  for  his  execution. 


Arab  Courage 


WHAT  a flood  of  light  these  skirmishes  on  the 
Red  Sea  throw  upon  Mahommedan  history, 
and  especially  upon  those  two  most  obscure  series 
of  events, — the  early  conquests  of  the  Arabian 
Caliphs,  and  the  successive  failures  of  the  Crusading 
armies  to  turn  Palestine  into  a European  province ! 
Writer  after  writer  has  attempted  to  account  for  the 
defeat  of  the  Roman  armies,  still  the  best  disciplined 
in  the  world,  by  Arabs  less  numerous  and  less  dis- 
ciplined than  themselves,  and  has  failed  ; and, 
conscious  of  failure,  has  consoled  himself  either 
by  depreciating  the  Roman  troops  as  effete  and 
enfeebled  by  luxury,  or  by  raising  “ fanaticism  ” into 
a military  quality  of  almost  supernatural  force. 
Even  Sir  William  Muir  is  forced  to  explain  the 
marvellous  battle  of  Yakusa  — the  battle  which 
prostrated  Heraclius  and  deprived  the  Eastern 
Empire  of  Syria — by  hinting  that,  what  with  their 
new  creed  and  their  hunger  for  booty,  and  their 
desire  for  the  female  captives,  who  were  after  each 
victory  distributed  among  them,  Khalid’s  soldiers 
had  become,  as  it  were,  transformed  into  the 


ARAB  COURAGE 


22  1 


greatest  warriors  of  the  age.  It  was,  no  doubt, 
a marvellous  battle.  Heraclius,  at  last  alarmed  for 
the  Roman  dominion — which,  we  must  remember, 
seemed  to  him,  and  to  all  of  his  generation,  a part 
of  the  divinely  imposed  order  of  mankind — had 
despatched  a great  army  of  90,000  Regulars,  assisted 
by  clouds  of  auxiliaries,  chiefly  Bedouins,  exceeding 

150.000  in  number,  to  make  a final  end  of  the  new 
and  threatening  power.  They  encamped  on  the 
bank  of  the  Yermuk,  in  Syria,  under  the  command 
of  the  Emperor’s  brother  Theodoric,  and  his  cele- 
brated General  Bahan,  the  Armenian,  and  so 
alarmed  the  Moslem  Sheikhs,  who  controlled  only 

40.000  men,  that  at  first  they  avoided  battle. 
They  counted  their  enemies,  and  would  not  attack. 
Khalid,  however,  made  a forced  march  across  the 
Desert — his  picked  men  living  for  five  days  on 
water  extracted  from  slaughtered  camels — induced 
the  Sheikhs  to  entrust  to  him  the  supreme  com- 
mand, and  in  one  tremendous  day  in  September, 
a.d.  634,  utterly  destroyed  the  Roman  hosts.  After 
a skirmish,  in  which  four  hundred  Arabs  taken  by 
surprise  vowed  to  die,  and  died  sword  in  hand, 
Khalid  ordered  a general  advance : — 

The  Romans  too  advanced,  and  the  charge  was  met  on  both 
sides  with  the  sword.  All  day  the  battle  raged.  Fortune  varied  ; 
and  the  carnage  amongst  the  Moslems,  as  well  as  the  Romans, 
was  great.  Ikrima’s  gallant  company,  holding  their  ground  firm 
as  a rock  in  front  of  Khalid’s  tent,  bore  the  brunt  of  the  day  ; 
they  were  slain  or  disabled  almost  to  a man.  So  fierce  were  the 
Arabs,  that  even  the  women  joined  their  husbands  and  brothers 


222 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


in  the  field  ; and  Huweiria,  daughter  of  Abu  Sofian,  inheriting 
the  spirit  of  her  mother  Hind,  was  severely  wounded  in  an  en- 
counter with  the  enemy.  Towards  evening  the  Romans  began  to 
falter.  Khalid,  quickly  perceiving  that  their  horse  were  declining 
from  the  infantry,  launched  his  centre  as  a wedge  between  the 
two.  The  cavalry,  with  nothing  behind  them  but  the  precipice, 
made  a fierce  charge  for  their  lives ; the  Moslem  troops  opened 
to  let  them  pass,  and  so  they  gained  the  open  country  and  never 
again  appeared.  The  Moslems  then  turned  right  and  left  upon 
the  remaining  force  cooped  up  between  the  ravine  and  the  chasm ; 
and,  as  they  drove  all  before  them,  the  Romans  on  both  hands 
“ were  toppled  over  the  bank  even  as  a wall  is  toppled  over.” 
The  battle  drew  on  into  the  night,  but  opposition  was  now  in 
vain.  Those  that  escaped  the  sword  were  hurled  in  a moving 
mass  over  the  edge  into  the  yawning  gulf.  “ One  struggling 
would  draw  ten  others  with  him,  the  free  as  well  as  chained.” 
And  so,  in  dire  confusion  and  dismay,  the  whole  multitude 
perished.  The  fatal  chasm  Yacfisa  engulfed,  we  are  told,  100,000 
men.  Ficar,  the  Roman  General,  and  his  fellow-captains,  unable 
to  bear  the  sight,  sat  down,  drew  their  togas  around  them,  and, 
hiding  their  faces  in  despair  and  shame,  awaited  thus  their  fate. 

The  “ chained  ” men  were  picked  soldiers,  who 
chained  themselves  together  to  make  charges  in 
mass.  Sir  Gerald  Graham  would,  we  think,  under- 
stand that  story,  and  account  for  the  Moslem  victory 
by  military  reasons,  the  simple  explanation  being 
that  the  Arabs  fought  then,  as  they  fight  now,  with 
a fury,  a perseverance,  and  a contempt  of  death 
which  hardly  any  troops  in  the  world  have  ever 
surpassed.  They  were  personally  the  Romans’ 
superiors  in  battle  ; and  they  killed  them  out, 
retreat  being  impossible,  by  sheer  bravery  and  hard 
fighting.  Without  entering  into  the  difficult  ques- 
tion whether  the  Roman  soldier  had  degenerated 


ARAB  COURAGE 


223 


at  all — a question  on  which  the  evidence  is  most 
conflicting — it  may  be  taken  as  certain  that  the 
Englishman  of  to-day  is  a better  man,  and  as 
nearly  certain  that,  but  for  the  Gardners  and  the 
rifles — that  is,  but  for  the  terrible  armour  that  is 
forged  for  us  by  science  — the  Arab,  with  his 
superior  numbers,  would  wipe  him  out  on  the 
shores  of  the  Red  Sea  as  completely  as  Khalid’s 
tribesmen  did  the  Roman.  Khalid’s  men  poured 
on  Bahan’s  regulars  exactly  as  Osman  Digna’s  men 
poured  on  the  Berkshires  and  Marines — the  very 
incident  of  the  women  charging  being  repeated — 
and  but  for  the  rifles  Osman’s  might  have  been 
as  successful.  Every  correspondent,  at  all  events, 
thinks  and  says  so.  Why  ? Sir  W.  Muir  speaks 
of  fanaticism,  and  greed,  and  lust  all  conspiring 
together  to  make  heroes ; but  as  a matter  of  fact,, 
these  motive-powers  did  not  operate  until  Khalid 
joined  the  troops,  and,  splendid  strategist  though 
he  was,  trusted  the  battle  to  the  magnificent  daring 
of  his  Desert  soldiery.  That  this  courage  was 
inflamed  by  “ fanaticism  ” — that  is,  by  a sure  and 
certain  hope  of  reaching  heaven  if  they  died  in 
battle — is  true  enough  ; but  even  that  faith  would 
not  have  so  operated  except  upon  men  of  excep- 
tional personal  daring.  It  does  not  so  operate  upon 
millions  of  convinced  Mahommedans.  The  simple 
truth  is  that  the  Arab  of  the  Desert,  whether  of 
the  pure  blood  of  Ishmael  or  of  that  blood  crossed 
with  the  negro,  was  then,  and  is  now,  by  nature  one 


224 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  the  warrior-races,  the  superior  of  the  Roman, 
even  when  Roman  battalions  were  “ stiffened  ” with 
barbarians,  and  the  equal,  as  he  showed  subse- 
quently in  the  Crusades  and  in  Spain,  of  any 
Northerner  whatever — Saxon,  or  Frank,  or  Teuton, 
or  Visigoth — a man  who  can  fight-on  when  beaten, 
and  die  hard  even  when  left  alone.  When  he  first 
came  out  of  the  Desert,  he  dared  face  the  Roman ; 
five  hundred  years  later,  he  faced  the  mail-clad 
soldiers  of  Europe,  and  he  is  facing  English  soldiers 
to-day,  and  always  in  the  same  manner,  with  the 
most  reckless  personal  valour  and  a contempt  for 
death  which  scarcely  any  Europeans  possess.  Our 
soldiers  call  him  a brute  because,  when  wounded, 
he  courts  death  by  slashing  at  his  captors  ; but  if 
Tommy  Atkins  knew  he  must  die  in  agony — there 
are  no  doctors  or  ambulances  with  Osman  Digna — 
and  believed  that  if  he  could  only  get  killed  he 
would  go  straight  to  Heaven,  he  would  in  all 
probability  do  precisely  the  same  thing. 

We  press  this  point  of  the  personal  valour  of 
Arabs  over  and  over  again,  not  because  anybody 
is  just  now  doubting  it,  but  because  the  successes 
of  Europe  for  the  last  century  tend  to  make 
Englishmen  mistaken  in  their  views  of  history.  So 
many  large  Asiatic  armies  have  been  overthrown 
by  small  European  armies,  that  we  have  come  to 
doubt  whether  any  Asiatics  are  brave,  whether  the 
Turks,  whose  courage  is  undeniable,  have  not 
acquired  it  in  European  air,  and  whether  Europe 


ARAB  COURAGE 


225 


could  not,  if  it  pleased,  rule  all  Asia  with  a very 
small  exertion  of  its  military  strength.  We  have 
come  to  doubt  whether  the  Roman  and  the  Byzan- 
tine, and  the  Barbarian  and  the  Southern  European, 
all  of  whom  the  Arab  mastered,  can  have  been 
much  of  a fighter  after  all,  and  to  question  whether 
the  comparatively  small  Greek  garrison  which  de- 
fended Constantinople  against  Asia  for  two  cen- 
turies so  heroically  must  not  have  been  “ effete.” 
We  suspect  that  although  luxury  set  in,  and  the 
numbers  of  ruling  races,  like  the  Italian  and  the 
Greek,  greatly  diminished,  the  extension  of  slavery 
eating-out  free  men,  much  of  the  success  of  the 
Arab  was  due  to  personal  superiority  in  battle,  akin 
in  degree,  though  not  in  kind,  to  that  of  the  modern 
European.  The  Crusader  certainly  thought  him 
the  fiercest  of  infidels,  and  so  did  all  Europeans 
of  the  Mediterranean  down  to  the  time  when 
Admiral  Pellew  blew  away  with  his  cannon-balls 
the  charm  which  for  centuries  had  hung  around  the 
Moorish  name.  The  difficulty  is  to  understand 
why  the  Arab  ever  lost  his  control  of  the  Mussul- 
man world  ; but  we  believe  it  was  mainly  because, 
moved  by  the  dislike  of  the  later  Caliphs,  who 
could  not  endure  his  simple  and,  indeed,  democratic 
ways,  and  by  his  own  instinct  for  independence,  he 
returned  to  his  deserts,  there  to  live  his  own  life 
until  the  opportunity  should  once  more  offer  for  a 
charge  upon  the  Asiatic  world.  He  does  not  fear 
the  Turk  even  now.  The  Desert,  as  Mr.  Disraeli 

Q 


226 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


detected,  preserves  the  Arab.  We  will  not  say  that 
the  life  of  cities  and  of  agriculture  kills-out  his 
higher  qualities,  for  the  evidence  is  imperfect ; but 
it  is  probable  that  this  is  occasionally  the  case. 
While  the  Arab  of  Algiers  remained  deep  into  this 
century  a formidable  soldier  because  he  lived  the 
independent  life  of  his  desert,  the  settled  Arab  of 
Egypt  has  lost  his  fighting  qualities,  which  also 
must  have  declined  in  the  Arab  of  Southern  Spain 
before  he  was  finally  driven  out.  No  doubt  the 
Spaniards  multiplied,  and  the  Arabs  did  not ; but 
in  the  later  battles,  before  the  fall  of  Granada,  the 
Christians  displayed  the  higher  fighting-power.  At 
all  events,  the  Arabs  of  the  Desert  remain  among 
the  bravest  of  mankind,  facing  battle,  in  which,  if 
wounded,  they  must  die  of  torture  or  starvation, 
with  a fierce  delight  not  wholly  explicable  by  a 
revival  in  them  of  the  faith  which  the  Indian 
Mussulman  also  holds,  but  does  not  die  for.  Men 
who  talk  glibly  of  ruling  the  Soudan  should  read 
a little  of  Arab  history,  and  consider  for  five  minutes 
how  many  soldiers  it  would  take  to  keep,  say,  only 
two  millions  of  Khalid’s  men  in  permanent  and 
orderly  subjection.  They  will  find  that,  in  fighting- 
fury  at  all  events,  there  has  been  little  change  in 
the  Arab. 


Indian  Abstemiousness 

ONE  of  the  graver  newspapers — we  think  it 
was  the  St.  James's  Gazette  — has  made 
the  paradoxical  remark  that  a main  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  improving  the  condition  of  workwomen 
in  the  East  End  of  London  arose  from  one  of 
their  virtues.  They  are  so  steadily  and  rigidly 
abstemious,  that  they  can  live  by  wages  upon 
which  men,  or  less  abstemious  women,  would  ac- 
tually starve.  Many  of  the  class  of  sempstresses, 
for  example,  contrive  to  reduce  their  weekly  outlay 
to  the  absolutely  lowest  point  consistent  with  living 
at  all,  by  dispensing  with  all  luxuries  whatever, 
and  with  many  of  what  are  considered  by  the 
more  fortunate  simple  necessaries.  They  touch  no 
alcohol,  they  dress  in  rags,  they  buy  only  the  food 
which  is  the  cheapest.  They  live,  in  fact,  on 
bread,  a little  fat,  and  water,  or,  when  hot  water 
is  procurable,  a little,  a very  little,  tea.  This  ab- 
stemiousness, said  the  St.  James’s  Gazette , injured 
them  greatly,  for  it  was  only  in  consequence  of  it  that 
the  “ sweaters  ” were  able  to  apply  the  competition 
screw  in  its  full  force.  If  the  women  had  more 


227 


228 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


wants,  they  would,  in  the  end,  have  more  money. 
The  remark  struck  us  as  most  subtle,  and  recurred 
to  our  memories  with  a new  significance  on 
reading  Sir  John  Gorst’s  Indian  Budget  The 
main  reason  why  Indian  finance  is  so  difficult, 
and  new  taxation  in  India  so  impossible,  or  so 
full  of  risk,  is  that  the  Indian  peoples  have  acquired, 
or  have  developed  in  abnormal  proportions,  two 
virtues  which  European  moralists  are  never  tired 
of  praising.  There  is  no  abstemiousness  in  the 
world,  and  no  thrift,  like  the  thrift  and  abstemious- 
ness of  the  average  native  of  India.  Almost  alone 
among  the  working  men  of  the  world,  he  has 
raised  himself  nearly  above  wants,  has  stripped 
himself  of  all  the  impedimenta  of  luxury.  Millions 
of  men  in  India,  especially  on  the  richer  soils  and 
in  the  river  deltas,  live,  marry,  and  rear  apparently 
healthy  children,  upon  an  income  which,  even 
when  the  wife  works,  is  rarely  above  two  shillings 
a week,  and  frequently  sinks  to  eighteenpence. 
The  Indian  is  enabled  to  do  this  not  so  much 
by  the  cheapness  of  food — for  though  it  is  cheap, 
a European  who  ate  the  same  food  would  want 
five  times  the  money  merely  to  feed  himself — as 
by  a habit  of  living  which  makes  him  independent 
of  the  ordinary  cares  of  mankind.  He  goes  nearly 
without  clothes,  gives  his  children  none,  and  dresses 
his  wife  in  a long  piece  of  the  most  wretched 
muslin.  Neither  he  nor  his  wife  pay  tailor  or 

milliner  one  shilling  during  their  entire  lives,  nor 


INDIAN  ABSTEMIOUSNESS 


229 


do  they  ever  purchase  needles  or  thread,  which, 
indeed,  it  is  contrary  to  a semi-religious  etiquette 
ever  to  use.  The  poorer  peasant  inhabits  a hut 
containing  a single  covered  room  of  the  smallest 
size,  with  an  earthen  platform  or  two  outside  it ; 
and  as  he  constructs  and  repairs  his  own  dwelling, 
he  virtually  pays  no  rent,  except  for  the  culturable 
land.  He  never  touches  alcohol,  or  any  substitute 
for  it.  There  is  an  idea  in  England  that  he  eats 
opium  or  hemp  ; but  he,  as  a rule,  swallows  neither, 
— firstly,  because  he  regards  them  with  as  much 
moral  antipathy  as  any  English  gentleman  ; and 
secondly,  because  he  could  not  by  any  possibility  pay 
for  articles  which  in  India,  as  everywhere  else, 
are  exceedingly  expensive.  He  eats  absolutely  no 
meat,  nor  any  animal  fat,  nor  any  expensive  grain 
like  good  wheat ; but  lives  on  millet  or  small  rice, 
a little  milk,  with  the  butter  from  the  milk,  and 
the  vegetables  he  grows.  Even  of  these  he  eats 
more  sparingly  than  the  poorest  Tuscan.  Once 
a quarter,  perhaps,  he  will  eat  enough,  during  some 
festival ; but  as  a rule,  he  knows  accurately  what 
will  sustain  him,  and  would  be  enraged  with  the 
wife  who  cooks  for  him  if  she  prepared  more.  He 
is  assisted  in  this  economy  by  a religious  rule 
which  we  have  never  seen  a Hindoo  break,  and 
which  is  undoubtedly,  like  the  rule  against  killing 
oxen,  a survival  from  a military  law  or  custom  of 
the  most  remote  antiquity.  The  leaders  of  the 
people,  when  Indians  were  nomads  or  invaders, 


230 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


made  it  a grand  crime  to  kill  the  only  beasts 
available  for  transport  or  for  agriculture,  and  re- 
fused permission  to  cook  more  than  once  a day. 
The  Hindoo,  therefore,  must  wait  till  nightfall  for 
his  second  meal,  and  has  contracted  a fixed  habit 
of  not  eating,  except  occasionally  fruit,  more  than 
twice  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  Even  this  does 
not  exhaust  his  capacity  of  abstemiousness.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  what  proportion  of  the  Indian 
people  eat  only  once  in  a full  day,  but  in  some 
districts  it  is  a perceptible  one,  and  even  on  the 
most  fertile  lands  of  Bengal  the  present  writer  has 
occasionally  come  across  evidence  which  has  shown 
him  that  most  respectable  men,  quite  on  a level, 
except  as  to  knowledge,  with  our  Northern  unskilled 
labourers,  were  living,  and  had  lived  for  years,  on 
one  meal  a day.  Such  men,  even  when  they  eat 
twice,  are  beyond  “ wants,”  and  are  the  despair 
of  the  Chancellors  of  the  Exchequer.  You  cannot 
tax  men’s  skins.  They  consume  nothing  and  seek 
nothing  which  can  be  taxed  except  salt,  and,  ac- 
cordingly, that  has  been  taxed  probably  from  the 
days  of  Porus,  certainly  from  days  long  antecedent 
to  the  Mussulman  conquest  of  the  Peninsula.  There 
is  absolutely  nothing  else  except  the  food  itself, 
and  to  tax  that  would  involve  the  extinction  of 
the  people. 

We  shall  be  told  that  we  have  drawn  a painful 
picture  of  poverty,  but  that  it  indicates  no  virtue. 
Well,  we  do  not  know.  It  is  a little  difficult  to 


INDIAN  ABSTEMIOUSNESS 


231 


make  the  ideas  of  one  race  clear  to  men  of  another  ; 
but  we  believe  few  of  the  Settlement  officers,  who 
of  all  men  best  know  the  real  people  of  India, 
would  deny  that  their  abstemiousness  was  in  part 
a virtue.  The  mental  habit  which  enables  Indians 
to  abstain  from  pleasant  things  may  have  been 
generated  in  them  by  ages  of  continuous  want ; 
but  that  there  is  a mental  habit  which  makes 
abstemiousness  easier  to  them  is  certain.  They  are 
like  English  women,  who  like  nice  things  occasion- 
ally, but  who  do  not  give  to  eating  and  drinking 
and  comfort  generally  the  prodigious  place  in  life 
which  English  men,  and  especially  English  work- 
men and  philanthropists,  now  do.  Millions  of 
natives,  helped  no  doubt  by  the  ascetic  teaching 
of  their  creed,  do  not  care  much  about  comfort 
for  their  bodies,  and  would  rather  have  comfort 
in  other  directions, — say,  through  leisure  or  accu- 
mulation. They  will  not  be  worked  to  death  for 
their  stomach’s  sake.  They  will  accumulate  if  they 
see  a chance,  however  their  insides  may  clamour 
to  be  comforted.  There  is  no  thrift  like  native 
thrift,  and  abstemiousness  is  its  root.  Peasants 
who  have  begun  to  save  constantly  continue  the 
way  of  living  we  have  described  for  years  on  end, 
and  not  unfrequently  adhere  to  it  after  they  have 
grown  positively  rich.  They  always,  when  in 
misfortune,  meet  it  by  complete  personal  self-denial. 
They  waste  on  marriages  and  festivals,  and  on 
expenses,  often  legal,  which  they  deem  essential 


232 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


to  honour,  or  which  satisfy  their  pride  ; but  they 
do  not  waste  on  themselves,  even  in  copper  coins, 
— though  they  have  at  least  one  taste,  that  for 
sweetmeats,  which  is  nearly  as  strong  as  that  of 
the  Briton  for  beer,  or  that  of  the  Frenchman  for 
a satisfying  meal.  It  seems  to  us  that  self-restraint 
influences  the  abstemious  native,  as  well  as  his 
poverty ; and  that  self-restraint  of  this  daily  and 
persistent  kind,  often  involving  great  resistance  to 
temptation,  and  always  involving  slight  but  con- 
tinuous suffering,  must  be  at  least  of  the  nature  of 
virtue.  It  is  so  all  the  more  because  the  native 
neither  parades  his  economy,  nor  sulks  under  it, 
nor  hates  the  man  who  has  no  necessity  to  practise 
it.  He  regards  it,  as  he  does  darkness  or  death, 
as  part  of  a Divinely  appointed  life,  thinks  about 
other  things,  and  though  very  rarely  a joyous  man, 
is  frequently  an  exceedingly  humorous,  and  con- 
stantly a placid  one. 

If  it  is  admitted,  as  we  should  certainly  admit, 
that  abstemiousness  is  a virtue  in  the  Indian,  it  is 
a little  melancholy  to  think  that,  as  in  the  working 
woman  of  the  East  End,  it  produces  so  little  result 
of  any  beneficial  kind.  Character  does  not  seem 
to  be  strengthened  by  it.  The  imbecile  weakness 
of  these  very  men,  when  custom,  or  the  priests, 
or  family  pride  demand  mad  waste,  has  been  re- 
marked ever  since  we  entered  the  country,  and  is 
a perpetual  theme  of  objurgation  to  native  social 
reformers.  They  pay,  too,  unjust  demands  from 


INDIAN  ABSTEMIOUSNESS 


233 


tax-gatherers,  from  money-lenders,  from  powerful 
enemies,  in  as  weak  a way  as  the  self-indulgent 
do,  never  resisting  extortions  which  would  drive 
Englishmen  of  the  same  type  half-frantic.  Nor 
do  they  make  their  country  wealthy.  It  is  a 
curious  problem  for  the  teetotallers  and  vegetarians 
and  lecturers  on  thrift,  that  the  Indians,  who  do 
not  drink,  who  avoid  meat,  and  who  save  cash  with 
persistent  care,  have  not  made  India,  which  is  in 
the  main  a fertile  continent,  very  rich,  nor  raised 
the  average  of  wages  very  high,  nor  developed  the 
wants  which  generate  what  we  call  comfort.  To 
all  appearance,  the  grand  results  of  their  splendid 
abstemiousness  are  that  the  minimum  rate  of  wages 
is  the  lowest,  prices  being  considered,  in  the  world, 
and  that  the  continent  contains  perhaps  a hundred 
millions  more  people  than  is  quite  good  for  it.  It 
looks,  as  it  looks  also  in  the  case  of  the  working 
women  of  the  East  End,  as  if  there  were  resultless 
virtues,  or  even  virtues  with  an  evil  result,  as  if 
profusion  developed  energy,  and  as  if  energy  pro- 
duced more  positive  good  than  mere  abstinence. 
It  is  conceivable  not  only  that  part  of  the  wealth 
of  Britain  is  due  to  a base  desire  for  beef  and 
porter,  but  that  some  of  the  spirit  of  enterprise  in 
the  people,  some  of  the  readiness  to  spend  them- 
selves in  furious  working,  is  due  to  it  too.  We 
will  not  say  that  abstemiousness  in  a whole  popu- 
lation produces  as  much  harm  as  good,  for  we  do 
not  know  enough  to  venture  such  an  opinion  ; but 


234 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


we  will  say  that  fanatics  and  faddists  may  study 
Indian  virtues  and  their  results  with  a good  deal 
of  instruction.  A little  badness  might  be  good 
for  them.  There  are  signs,  for  instance,  we  are 
told,  as  yet  faint,  that  native  abstemiousness  and 
thrift  may  yield  to  one  strong  temptation  now 
pressing  very  closely  upon  them.  They  all  like 
tea,  and  may  by  degrees,  like  English  sempstresses, 
like  it  enough  to  crave  it,  though  its  consumption 
— now  confined  to  medicine — would  greatly  disturb 
the  economy  of  their  households.  If  that  ever 
happened,  Indian  Chancellors  of  the  Exchequer 
would  jump  for  joy,  and  we  feel  by  no  means  sure 
that  the  wealth  of  the  people  would  not  be  greater. 
Tea  is  as  much  pure  waste,  except  in  the  pleasure 
it  gives,  as  alcohol,  perhaps  it  is  even  more  so  ; 
but  then,  the  desire  for  tea  produces  the  energy 
necessary  to  obtain  it,  and  so  far  as  appears,  the 
countervailing  consequence  of  abstemiousness  is 
deficient  energy. 


The  Asiatic  Notion  of  Justice 

HE  opposition  offered  by  Riza  Pasha  and 


others  of  the  higher  officials  to  judicial  reform 
in  Egypt  is  usually  set  down  in  this  country  to 
corrupt  motives.  They  want  bribes,  it  is  said,  for 
protecting  unworthy  suitors,  or  they  desire  the 
opportunity  of  oppressing  their  enemies,  or  their 
dependents’  enemies,  through  the  agency  of  the 
police.  The  charge  is  probably  true  in  part,  most 
Orientals  desiring  irregular  rewards,  just  as  Bacon 
did,  and  thirsting  for  irregular  power  and  the  abject 
deference  and  sense  of  authority  which  irregular 
power  speedily  produces ; but  they  could,  if  they 
were  perfectly  articulate,  make  a better  defence  for 
themselves  than  Englishmen  imagine,  a defence, 
too,  in  which  the  suitors  before  them  would  cordi- 
ally concur.  There  are  just  Asiatics  as  well  as 
unjust,  though  they  are  usually  few,  and  Asiatics, 
too,  whom  no  man  could  bribe ; and  as  they  and 
their  suppliants  would  resist  Mr.  Scott’s  reforms  as 
stiffly  as  their  corrupt  compatriots,  it  may  be  of 
some  interest  to  a few  observers  of  human  nature 
to  state  the  reasons  why.  The  popular  notion  that 


236  ASIA  AND  EUROPE 

Asiatics  do  not  care  for  justice,  or  even  positively 
dislike  it,  is,  of  course,  entirely  without  foundation. 
The  approval  of  justice  is  almost  as  instinctive  as 
the  idea  of  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  and 
an  Asiatic  submits  more  humbly  to  a just  sentence 
than  a European.  The  agent  of  God,  he  thinks, 
has  found  him  out,  which  it  was  his  especial  busi- 
ness in  this  world  to  do,  and  which  is  evidence, 
among  other  things,  of  the  reality  of  his  commission, 
and  vindictiveness  on  that  account  would  be  only  a 
new  crime, — an  idea  asserted  by  English  gaol- 
keepers  to  be  also  entertained  by  the  convicts  in 
their  charge.  The  idea  that  an  Asiatic  does  not 
desire  a just  decision  on  the  merits  of  the  case  as 
between  plaintiff  and  defendant,  or  accuser  and 
accused,  is  utterly  without  foundation.  The  only 
differences  in  that  respect  between  the  races  are 
that  the  Asiatic  is  not  convinced  of  the  inherent 
equality  of  men,  holding  that  the  great  and  those 
invested  with  sanctity  ought  to  have  some  favour 
shown  them,  and  that  as  regards  fitting  punish- 
ments, he  belongs  to  the  fifteenth  century,  and 
would  have  no  kind  of  feeling  about  torture,  muti- 
lation, or  breaking  on  the  wheel.  The  highest 
Egyptian  expositor  of  the  law  did,  indeed,  in  this 
very  discussion,  lay  it  down  as  a cardinal  dogma 
that  a brigand  should  suffer  the  amputation  of  his 
hands,  a penalty  which  no  European  Government 
dare  attempt  to  enforce  for  any  offence  whatever. 
It  is  not  as  regards  justice  in  itself,  but  as  regards 


THE  AS/AT/C  NOTION  OF  JUSTICE  237 


the  method  of  distributing  it,  that  the  Asiatic  parts 
company  from  the  European.  The  latter  in  all 
countries  insists  on  a specially  qualified  Judge, 
definite  rules  of  evidence  which  often  exclude 
evidence,  and  a mode  of  procedure  as  well  known 
and  as  rigid  as  the  law  itself.  He  always  employs 
expert  intermediaries  to  attack  or  to  defend,  and  he 
has  usually  an  inexplicable  desire  that  the  place  for 
doing  justice  should,  so  to  speak,  be  consecrated  to 
that  business  only,  a sentence  delivered  out  of  Court 
striking  him  as  something  abnormal,  suspicious,  and, 
in  some  way  not  defined,  irreverent.  The  result  of 
these  feelings  is,  that  the  Englishman,  American,  or 
German  secures  justice,  but  only  after  an  expensive 
and  tedious  process,  excessive  interruption  to 
ordinary  business,  and,  in  civil  cases,  great  differ- 
ences between  the  amount  of  his  just  claim  and 
the  amount  which,  after  the  lawyers  are  paid, 
actually  comes  into  his  hands.  All  that  is  to  the 
Asiatic  utterly  detestable.  He  thinks  that  when  he 
is  wronged,  it  is  the  business  of  the  ruler,  or  his 
executive  delegate,  to  right  him  at  once,  without 
delay,  without  expense,  fully  and  finally.  He 
appeals  to  him  loudly  in  the  market-place,  in  the 
road,  or  in  his  hall  of  audience,  indifferently,  and 
expects  justice  either  there  and  then,  or  if  wit- 
nesses must  be  summoned  from  a distance,  at  a 
fixed  time,  not  to  be  altered  without  the  gravest 
cause.  The  decision  thus  given  is  to  be  just, 
inexorably  just,  but  is  to  be  reached  irrespective 


238 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  any  rules  of  evidence,  any  customs,  or  any  laws 
not  directly  religious  ; and  even  that  last  qualifica- 
tion is  only  for  the  sake  of  form.  So  intense  is  this 
feeling,  that  the  gravest  charge  an  Asiatic  can  bring 
against  his  ruler  is  that,  though  outside  his  palace, 
he  refused  to  hear  him,  or  that,  having  given  a 
decision,  he  failed  to  make  it  instantly  executive. 
Moreover,  the  ruler  is  entirely  of  his  subjects’ 
opinion  in  the  matter.  There  never  has  been  an 
Asiatic  Sovereign,  however  bad,  or  however  accus- 
tomed to  profound  seclusion,  who  would  not  have 
admitted  that  this  was  his  duty,  which  he  sinned  in 
neglecting,  or  who,  if  caught  unawares,  say  on  a 
hunting  party,  would  not  have  fulfilled  it  to  the 
best  of  his  ability.  Aurungzebe,  the  great 
Emperor  of  Delhi,  who  assumed  the  manner  rather 
of  a deity  than  a monarch,  and  used  to  receive  his 
Court  seated  on  crossed  stone  girders  in  the  roof  of 
his  audience- hall,  twenty  feet  above  all  heads,  would 
hear  the  raggedest  wretch  in  his  dominions,  and 
give  a decision,  often  strangely  astute,  there  and 
then  ; and  woe  to  the  courtier,  however  powerful, 
who  barred  the  execution  of  a decree  so  pro- 
nounced. The  Oriental,  in  fact,  desires  suddenness, 
inexpensiveness,  and  finality  in  the  distribution  of 
justice,  and  therefore  looks  for  it — as  that  unhappy 
Sikh  is  doing  who  was  always  getting  imprisoned 
because  he  wanted  to  ask  the  Queen  in  person  to 
restore  his  land,  forfeited  by  some  Court’s  wrongful 
decision — only  from  the  executive  power.  No 


THE  ASIATIC  NOTION  OF  JUSTICE  239 


other  can  be  so  quick,  or  so  final,  or  so  cheap, 
and  the  notion  of  depriving  it  of  its  first  function 
is,  in  the  eyes  of  subject  and  ruler  alike,  positively 
immoral.  The  Khedive  has  just  given  away  this 
right,  and  but  that  he  is  supposed  to  be  in  durance 
to  the  infidel,  and  no  longer  possessed  of  free-will, 
he  would  be  held  by  every  subject  to  have  given 
away  also  his  moral  right  to  reign. 

Of  course,  as  a matter  of  fact,  the  system  works 
horribly  ill,  worse,  perhaps,  than  any  system  what- 
ever, except  that  of  Spain,  where  you  institute  the 
suit  and  your  grandson  gets  the  decree.  The  ruler 
gets  bored  with  the  work,  and  delegates  his  power, 
which  is  again  sub-delegated,  until  there  is  at  last 
an  ignorant  and  corrupt  official,  intent  on  money- 
making, who  can  give  an  absolute  order,  and  enforce 
it  with  the  whole  power  of  the  State,  and  who,  being 
the  Sovereign’s  representative,  is  independent  of 
evidence,  laws,  and  every  other  restraint,  except 
the  one  remote  chance  that  if  a suitor,  palpably 
oppressed  beyond  bearing,  can  reach  his  Sovereign’s 
ear  and  convince  him,  an  order  may  come  for  that 
oppressor’s  head.  So  strong  is  tradition,  that  we 
think  even  the  Sultan  under  those  circumstances 
would  give  that  kind  of  redress ; but  except  in 
extraordinary  cases  when  the  ruler  will  work  like 
Frederick  the  Great,  or  in  the  more  frequent  cases 
when  the  dread  of  him  is  so  acute  that  the  oppressor 
is  paralysed  by  the  threat  of  personal  appeal  to  the 
Throne — this  is  actually  the  case  in  Afghanistan  at 


240 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


this  moment — the  reserved  power  of  the  Sovereign 
is  no  protection,  and  justice  suffers  such  deprava- 
tion, that  but  for  two  checks  very  curious  in  their 
operation,  society  would  go  to  pieces.  Most  suits 
and  plaints  are  between  equals,  or  persons  nearly 
equal,  and  bribery  in  such  cases  ameliorates  tyranny, 
the  wronged  man  being  willing  to  make  the  larger 
pecuniary  sacrifice.  And  there  is  a point  of  injustice 
hard  to  ascertain,  but  indubitably  existing,  beyond 
which  an  official  Asiatic,  when  sitting  in  judgement, 
must  not  go.  If  he  does,  the  universal  conscience 
revolts ; he  is  boycotted  in  a style  that  even  he 
feels,  and  the  atmosphere  of  respect  for  power 
which  in  the  East  clothes  and  protects  the  power- 
ful, ceases  to  guard  his  life.  As  for  the  police, 
under  this  system  they  degenerate  into  fiends. 
They  cannot  prevent  access  to  the  official’s  pre- 
sence ; but  they  collect  the  evidence,  they  arrest 
the  accused — and  keep  him  just  as  long  as  they 
like — and  they  carry  out  or  do  not  carry  out  the 
ultimate  decree  ; and  every  one  of  these  operations 
is  an  excuse  for  a fresh  bribe.  The  official  cannot 
punish  them,  and  except  under  superior  order  never 
does,  for  either  he  shares  the  bribes,  or  he  is  depen- 
dent on  them  for  the  collection  of  taxes,  the  one 
duty  he  dare  not  fail  in,  or  he  is  positively  afraid  of 
them,  the  latter  a case  constantly  occurring  in 
Egypt,  and,  it  is  said,  in  the  interior  of  China. 
The  oppression  of  the  police  throughout  Asia, 
outside  India,  is  something  quite  awful,  and  almost 


THE  ASIATIC  NOTION  OF  JUSTICE  241 


as  great  a cause  of  human  misery  as  even  slavery. 
Indeed,  it  would  desolate  whole  States,  but  that  at 
a certain  point  of  endurance  the  populace  takes 
arms,  the  police  are  killed  everywhere  at  sight,  and 
society,  which  as  a rule  detests  breaking  up,  re-forms 
itself  again  under  the  protection  of  Vigilance  Com- 
mittees. The  Asiatic  knows  how  to  organize  them 
well  enough,  but  never  will  do  it  in  good  time  or 
persistently,  and  when  he  has  done  it,  usually  falls 
under  the  temptation  to  use  his  new  power  in 
brigandage. 

Nevertheless,  for  all  its  bad  results,  there  is 
something  lofty  in  the  Asiatic  notion  of  the  proper 
distribution  of  justice,  and  it  does  sometimes,  under 
very  favourable  circumstances,  as  in  one  or  two  of 
the  smaller  States  of  India,  produce  an  extra- 
ordinary harmony  between  ruler  and  ruled,  the 
former  appearing  every  day  as  a beneficent  person 
who  redresses  wrong  as  a deity  would,  at  once  and 
by  a fiat  which  executes  itself ; but  there  is,  even 
under  such  circumstances,  a drawback  to  it  too 
seldom  noticed.  It  checks  prosperity  too  much. 
Anglo-Indians  often  lament  that  the  Asiatic  system 
is  not  tried  in  India,  where  we  could  secure  just 
satraps  ; but  just  satraps  are  of  little  use  as  Judges 
except  in  a simple  state  of  society.  The  moment 
commerce  comes  in  with  its  complexities,  the  just 
satrap  is  an  injurious  nuisance.  Solomon  was  a 
great  Judge,  no  doubt,  though  a very  cruel  one, 
cruel  as  the  first  Shah  of  the  Kajar  family,  who 


R 


242 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ripped  open  a soldier  to  see  if  he  had  stolen  some 
milk  ; but  if  Solomon  had  one  day  decided  contracts 
according  to  the  English  rule,  that  the  buyer  must 
take  care  of  himself,  and  the  next  day  according  to 
the  Mussulman  rule,  that  there  is  always  an  implied 
warranty,  commerce  would  have  become  impossible. 
To  make  a country  prosperous,  civil  suits  must  be 
decided  not  only  with  justice,  but  with  justice 
according  to  a rule  which  never  swerves,  is  never 
forgotten,  and  is  always  known  beforehand, — that 
is,  in  practice,  they  must  be  decided  by  experts  in 
accordance  with  written  law.  It  seems  a clumsy 
system,  because  of  the  expense  and  delay  it  neces- 
sarily involves  ; but  it  is  the  only  one  which  will 
work  when  affairs  have  grown  in  the  least  degree 
complex  or  many-sided.  The  will  of  the  just  man 
armed  with  all  power  seems  a grand  instrument ; 
but  it  is  of  no  use  whatever  in  deciding  whether 
unbleached  shirtings  are  up  to  sample,  or  whether 
such-and-such  documents  establish  agency  or  not. 
You  must  have  written  law,  and  there  is  no  written 
law  in  Asia  except  the  religious  ones  ; and  among  the 
religious  ones,  not  one  pays  the  smallest  attention — 
very  properly — to  such  questions  as  arise  in  com- 
merce. There  must  not  only  be  law,  but  positive  law, 
case  law,  and  therefore  experts  to  advise,  and  there- 
fore trained  tribunals,  and  therefore  that  separation 
of  law  from  the  executive  which  the  Asiatic  mind 
detests.  The  process  is  inexorable,  and  produces 
exactly  the  same  conclusion  as  the  degradation  of 


THE  ASIATIC  NOTION  OF  JUSTICE 


243 


justice  which  follows,  slowly  but  inevitably,  on  per- 
fect despotism, — viz.,  that  if  a country  wants  civiliza- 
tion, or  prosperity,  or  unbroken  order,  it  must  put 
up  with  Courts. 


1 


The  “ Standard  of  Comfort  ” in  India 

SIR  AUCKLAND  COLVIN,  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  the  North-West  Provinces — the 
great  region  between  Bengal  and  the  Punjab — 
made  a speech  at  Lucknow  which,  if  its  teaching 
were  only  accepted  by  the  people,  would  work  a 
social  revolution.  As  most  of  our  readers  know, 
though  few  of  them  probably  quite  realize,  the  “stand- 
ard of  comfort  ” among  the  masses  of  India  is  almost 
the  lowest,  or  perhaps  is  even  the  very  lowest,  among 
the  semi-civilized  peoples  of  the  world,  distinctly 
lower,  for  instance,  than  that  of  the  Chinese.  A 
fairly  contented  Indian  peasant  or  artisan  usually 
seems  to  Western  eyes  to  possess  no  comforts  at  all. 
His  cottage,  or  rather  hut,  consists  practically  of 
a single  room,  often  built  of  dried  mud  instead  of 
brick,  with  no  floor,  no  attempt  at  a chimney,  the 
fuel  used  being  charcoal,  and  no  furniture  except 
sometimes  a “charpoy”  or  two — i.e.  the  simplest 
form  of  trestle-bed — two  or  three  brass  lotahs,  and 
some  unglazed  earthen  cooking-pots.  There  are  no 
chairs,  no  carpets,  no  tables  for  eating,  no  bedding 
in  the  English  sense,  nothing,  indeed,  whatever  on 

244 


THE  “ STANDARD  OF  COMFORT"  IN  INDIA  245 


which  a British  pawnbroker  would,  in  an  hour  of 
expansiveness,  advance  3.?.  The  owner’s  clothing 
may  be  worth  5^.  if  he  has  a winter  garment,  and 
his  wife’s  perhaps  10s.  more,  her  festival  robe, 
usually  diaphanous,  though  sometimes  as  thick  as 
an  ordinary  English  shirt,  having  a distinct  value. 
The  children  wear  nothing  at  all.  The  man  never 
sees  or  thinks  about  meat  of  any  kind.  He  never 
dreams  of  buying  alcohol  in  any  shape.  The  food 
of  the  household  costs  about  6s.  a month,  and 
consists  of  roasted  rice  or  unleavened  cakes,  fish  if 
procurable,  vegetables,  milk,  and  a little  clarified 
butter,  the  whole  being  made  tasteful  with  cheap 
country  spices  ; and  his  only  luxury  is  sugar  made 
up,  sometimes  cleverly,  sometimes  horridly,  accord- 
ing to  the  “ way  ” of  each  district,  into  sweetmeats. 
He  has  practically  no  medical  aid,  though  his  wife 
is  helped  in  her  confinements  by  a midwife  nearly 
as  ignorant  as  herself,  and  never  dreams  of  the 
purchase  of  anything  of  any  sort — with  an  exception 
to  be  mentioned  by-and-by — which  can  by  any 
stretch  of  imagination  be  described  as  portable 
property.  He  could  fly  into  the  jungle  with  his 
whole  possessions,  his  farm  or  hut  of  course 
excepted,  at  five  minutes’  notice,  and  carry  them 
all  himself.  This  method  of  life,  with  insignificant 
variations,  consisting  chiefly  in  an  additional  number 
of  rooms,  extends  from  the  bottom  of  society  up 
through  the  whole  body  of  the  poorer  peasantry  and 
the  artisans,  until  you  reach  a grade  which  in  Europe 


246 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


would  be  certainly  ranked  with  the  middle  class,  the 
absence  of  comfort  existing  as  a permanent  fact  in 
at  least  twenty  millions  of  households,  or  a popula- 
tion of  a hundred  millions.  (We  should  ourselves 
put  the  figures  much  higher,  but  we  do  not  want  a 
statistical  dispute.)  Sir  Auckland  Colvin,  like  most 
Europeans,  considers  this  state  of  affairs  detestable  ; 
he  calls  on  the  people  to  want  more  comforts,  and 
he  holds  it  one  of  the  duties  of  the  English  in  India 
to  break  down  the  Indian  indifference  to  personal 
comfort  in  all  matters  of  daily  life.  He  wants  the 
Indians,  in  fact,  to  house  themselves  better,  to  clothe 
themselves  more  fully,  to  buy  more  furniture,  and 
generally  to  desire  more  strongly  those  necessary 
articles  which,  like  shoes  and  stockings  in  London, 
are  classed  by  many  reasoners  as  among  the  neces- 
sary conditions  and  most  palpable  evidences  of  true 
civilization.  Is  he  right  or  wrong  ? 

Be  it  remembered  he  is  not,  as  so  many  kindly 
men  who  do  not  know  India  will  immediately  assert, 
talking  optimist  nonsense,  or  suggesting  changes 
hopelessly  impossible  on  account  of  the  poverty  of 
the  people.  There  is  a poor  class  of  workers  in 
India  as  everywhere  else,  and  in  a land  where 
everything  is  on  the  Asiatic  scale — that  is,  immoder- 
ately large — that  class  is  numerous  enough  to  make 
a people  ; but  a majority  of  the  masses  whose  living 
we  have  described,  and  about  whom  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  was  talking,  could  live  otherwise  if  they 
chose.  The  man  in  a waist  cloth  and  nothing  else 


THE  “ STANDARD  OF  COMFORT ” IN  INDIA  247 


has  always  a hoard  of  some  kind,  often  a hoard  so 
large  that  its  multiplication  by  millions  nearly 
explains  that  drain  of  silver  to  India  which  has 
worried  economists  ever  since  our  reign  began,  and 
which  remains  one  of  the  most  inexplicable  facts  in 
commercial  history,  the  silver  disappearing  as  if  it 
fell  through  into  a hidden  reservoir.  The  woman  with 
a thin  sheet  for  her  only  covering  tinkles  at  every 
step  she  takes,  her  ankles  and  arms  being  loaded 
with  silver  bangles,  which  are  not  unfrequently 
supplemented  with  a waist  belt  of  valuable  coins, — 
English  sovereigns  sometimes  in  the  north,  when 
the  harvest  has  been  immense,  or  prices  in  Europe 
tempt  speculators  to  ship  wheat  in  such  quantities 
that  the  very  rivers  are  overweighted  with  traffic. 
The  child  who  runs  about  without  a rag  on  is 
burdened  with  silver  anklets,  and  on  festival  days 
tempts  every  scoundrel  to  murder  her  merely  for 
the  value  of  her  heavy  ornaments.  The  “ poor  ” 
men  of  India  possess  a mass  of  jewels  which,  if 
applied  to  that  purpose,  would  in  a few  years  house 
them  comfortably — that  is,  solidly — while  the  sums 
they  waste  on  festivals  and  the  marriage  ceremonies 
of  children  would  provide  more  furniture  than  the 
parents  could  ever  use.  It  is  not  poverty  which 
prevents  the  growth  of  the  thirst  for  comfort  in 
India,  but  luxury, — if  hoarding  and  jewel-buying  be 
luxuries, — thrift  carried  unhesitatingly  to  its  logical 
consequence,  that  money  shall  not  go  out  of  the 
house,  and  the  “ indifference  ” of  which  Sir  Auckland 


248 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Colvin  speaks  in  terms  of  reprobation,  and  would 
use  the  influence  of  the  dominant  race  finally  to 
dispel. 

We  ask  again,  is  he  right  in  his  wish  ? Most 
Europeans,  full  of  their  inbred  conviction  that 
comfort  and  civilization  are  identical,  will  answer  at 
once,  “ Certainly  he  is  ; ” but  we  are  not  quite  so 
sure.  There  is  a civilization  which  is  independent  of 
furniture,  and  even  of  clothes,  not  to  speak  of  many- 
roomed  houses  ; and  the  Indian  very  often  indeed 
possesses  that.  It  is  not,  of  course,  a Christian 
civilization,  nor  has  it  reached  the  level  of  civiliza- 
tion attained  by  the  freemen  in  the  old  pagan 
countries  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  ; but 
still,  it  is  a very  different  thing  from  savagery  or 
Socialism.  His  self-respect  is  not  in  the  smallest 
degree  wounded  by  his  want  of  “ comforts,”  nor  is 
he  conscious  why,  standing  there  in  his  loin  cloth 
he  should  not  take  pride  in  himself,  his  wife,  his 
home,  or  any  of  his  belongings.  As  a rule,  he  is  a 
respectable  man  even  according  to  English  ideas  of 
respectability, — that  is  to  say,  he  commits  no  crimes, 
is  faithful  to  his  wife,  pays  all  he  owes,  is  the  best  of 
fathers,  performs  all  small  civic  duties  that  fall  to 
his  lot  with  growling  accuracy,  and  so  long  as 
expenditure  is  not  asked  of  him,  is  an  unusually 
helpful  and  steadfast  friend.  He  usually  knows 
who  his  great-grandfather  was,  which  the  European 
of  his  class  does  not,  and  often  is  as  full  of  the 
pride  of  race,  and  that  in  its  better  form,  as  ever  was 


THE  “ STANDARD  OF  COMFORT ” IN  INDIA  249 


Sir  Francis  Doyle’s  drunken  private  of  the  Buffs 
who  died  rather  than  surrender  his  pride  of  caste. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  industrious  of  mankind  ; he 
will  no  more  steal  than  an  English  maid  servant 
will ; and  he  is,  for  all  his  ignorance,  which  no  doubt 
is  fathomless,  as  sensitive  about  what  he  considers 
his  honour  as  any  old  English  squire.  He  is  not  a 
bad  fellow  at  all  in  ordinary  times,  though  there  is 
a bad  drop  in  his  pagan  heart  which  shows  itself  on 
provocation ; and  he  derives  much  of  his  good 
qualities  from  his  sense  of  a personal  dignity  independ- 
ent of  material  circumstances.  A life  long  struggle 
for  nice  furniture  would  demoralize  rather  than 
raise  his  character,  as  would  also  waiting  for  mar- 
riage until  he  possessed  a carpet,  or  working  for  pay 
amidst  an  impure  crowd  in  order  to  enrich  his  mess 
of  food.  He  is  an  aristocrat  of  a sort,  and  in  urging 
him  into  the  race  for  physical  comfort,  which  at 
present  he  does  not  regard  at  all,  you  are  at  least 
running  the  risk,  or,  as  we  should  say,  incurring  the 
certainty,  of  breaking  down  the  aristocratic  or 
haughtily  independent  side  of  his  character,  which 
is  its  strongest  buttress.  He  would  descend  from 
the  yeoman  or  self-managing  artisan  who  lives  in 
his  own  house,  and  can  make  marvels  almost  with- 
out tools,  into  a member  of  an  over- numerous  pro- 
letariat, all  struggling  with  each  other,  and  gradually 
placing  comfort  before  dignity,  independence,  or  any 
other  ideal  of  civilized  life.  It  would  be  wise,  the 
economists  say,  to  spend  his  hoard  on  furniture,  but 


25° 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


then  his  sense  of  security  would  be  gone ; and  wise 
to  melt  his  wife’s  jewels,  but  then  where  would  be 
her  social  pride  ? — no  mean  preservative,  be  it  re- 
membered, in  a non-Christian  land.  We  are  no  pas- 
sionate admirers  of  Thoreau  as  he  was,  or  even  of 
the  man  Thoreau  wished  to  seem  to  be ; but  an 
unconscious  Thoreau,  wholly  unaware  of  effort,  and 
respecting  the  bareness  of  his  hut  because  it  was 
bare  too  in  his  forefathers’  time,  seems  to  us  nearly 
the  equal  in  character  of  the  smug  Englishman  who, 
owing  all  the  civilization  he  has  to  Christianity, 
often  glibly  dismisses  the  teachings  of  that  creed  as 
“ talk  good  enough  for  parsons.”  In  inspiring  the 
Indian  with  the  thirst  for  comfort,  we  may  do  his 
character  much  disservice  ; while  as  to  his  happi- 
ness, we  question  if  any  comfort  except  one,  medical 
attendance,  would  add  to  it  one  jot, — the  best  proof 
perhaps,  being  that  many  of  his  countrymen,  when 
they  have  attained  to  position,  and  even  large 
wealth,  live  precisely  as  he  does,  buying,  no  doubt, 
good  houses,  and  occasionally  English  furniture,  but 
living,  in  their  own  offices  and  their  women’s  rooms, 
as  simply  as  peasants  or  artisans.  The  Indian 
poor  man  is  not  harassed  by  the  climate  of  Europe  ; 
he  has  plenty  of  easy  society,  he  has  no  employer 
to  fear,  and  as  he  sits  on  the  estrade  of  baked  earth 
round  his  house,  drinking  the  soft,  sweet  air,  and 
watching  his  children,  he  is  as  full  of  humour,  often  of 
the  gayest  and  most  satirical  kind,  as  any  Parisian 
artisan.  To  exchange  his  religion,  with  its  endless 


THE  “ STANDARD  OF  COMFORT ” IN  INDIA  251 


terrors  about  the  past  and  for  the  future,  for  the  light 
of  Christianity;  to  alter  his  moral  code  till  he  becomes 
pitiful  and  forgiving ; to  enlarge  his  mind  till 
intellectual  interests  fill  some  space  in  his  life,  and 
his  talk  is  not  eternally  of  pence  and  trifles, — these 
seem  to  us  great  objects  ; but  to  “ raise  his  standard 
of  comfort,”  and  so  fill  all  India  with  discontent,  in 
order  that  furniture  dealers  and  clothiers  and  con- 
fectioners may  make  great  businesses, — we  confess 
that  this  effort  to  revolutionize  the  habits  of  a con- 
tinent seems  to  us  hardly  worth  while.  Our  success 
in  such  a task  would  be  good  for  the  Indian  revenue, 
no  doubt,  and  therefore  for  the  useful  machinery  of 
administration  ; but  it  would  not  be  equally  good 
for  the  people,  who  are  at  present,  amid  much 
suffering  from  ignorance,  at  least  free  of  that  burden 
of  endless  wants  and  strugglings  which  make  up  so 
much  of  the  system  we  vaunt  as  Western  civilization. 


The  Core  of  Hindooism 

MONG  the  great  creeds  which  have  influenced 


masses  of  mankind,  there  is  none  the  inner 
strength  of  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  discern,  as 
Hindooism.  Its  governing  tenets  are  so  overlaid 
with  superstitions,  its  central  thoughts  so  obscured 
by  a meanly  gorgeous  ritual,  its  essentials  so  smoth- 
ered in  what  to  its  teachers  seem  non-important 
details,  that  many  observers  doubt  if  it  has  any  inner 
life  at  all.  Ninety  in  a hundred  of  the  Europeans 
in  India,  including,  unfortunately,  many  Mission- 
aries, regard  it  as  a mass  of  absurdities,  foisted  by 
cunning  priests  upon  an  ignorant  population,  and 
intended  first  of  all  to  secure  the  ascendency  and 
the  easy  living  of  a single  hieratic  corporation, 
recruited  by  hereditary  descent,  and  trained  in  col- 
leges which  are  in  fact  schools  for  the  cultivation  of 
ceremonial  laws.  A few  Europeans  of  course  have 
discerned  that  no  faith  of  which  this  could  be  justly 
said,  could  have  maintained  its  dominion  over 
millions  of  intelligent  men  for  tens  of  centuries,  and 
have  endeavoured  from  time  to  time  to  inform 
Europe  of  the  ideas  which,  under  an  almost  crushing 


252 


THE  CORE  OF  HINDOOISM  253 

weight  of  overgrowth,  have  kept  Hindooism  alive, 
which  have  given  its  general  principles  victory  in  a 
hundred  revolts,  and  which  to  this  day  enchain  some 
of  the  subtlest  and  most  disinterested  thinkers  that 
the  world  has  produced.  As  a rule,  however,  these 
European  exponents  of  Hindooism  have  found  but 
thin  audiences.  They  have  either  been  distrusted 
as  controversialists  sworn  to  a particular  view,  or 
have  been  overweighted  with  repellent  learning,  or 
have  lost  all  clearness  of  utterance  in  the  effort  to 
reconcile  the  practice  of  Hindooism  with  the  inner 
faith  of  its  devotees.  The  Hindoos  themselves 
have  helped  them  very  little.  Asia  is  not  given  to 
explanations  such  as  Europeans  understand  ; and  so 
far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  apology  for  Hindooism 
written  in  a European  tongue  by  a Hindoo,  to  which 
any  attention  has  been  paid.  It  is  therefore  with 
some  surprise,  as  well  as  much  interest,  that  we 
have  read  a pamphlet  written  in  English  by  a 
Madras  Brahmin  named  Swami  Vivekanandd,  and 
published  at  three-farthings  a copy,  which  is  intended 
to  supply  this  great  deficiency.  It  was  read,  we 
believe,  originally  before  the  “ Parliament  of  Re- 
ligions ” held  at  Chicago,  and  is  certainly  a remark- 
able performance.  The  writer  is  far  too  brief ; he 
omits  altogether  to  give  us  the  Hindoo  view  of  the 
relation  of  religion  to  morality,  and  he  is  obscure — 
probably  with  intention — as  to  the  Hindoo  concep- 
tion of  what  he  calls  “ God  ” ; and  though  he  knows 
English  as  well  as  we  do,  he  cannot  entirely  rid 


254 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


himself  of  the  Asiatic  tendency  to  an  interjectional 
style,  with  all  its  assumptions  and  inflations.  Still, 
his  little  pamphlet  has  merits  not  to  be  denied.  He 
really  understands  at  least  part  of  what  is  wanted 
of  him,  and  succeeds  in  telling  any  Englishman 
who  will  read  him  patiently,  what  the  essential 
thought  of  Hindooism  is. 

There  are,  we  believe,  more  than  fifty  accepted 
external  forms  of  Hindooism,  ranging  from  a wor- 
ship which  is  hardly  higher  than  fetishism — indeed, 
Swami  Vivekananda  gives  it  that  opprobrious  appel- 
lation— up  to  the  worship  of  the  highest  Sunyasees, 
which  is  free  from  any  formulas  or  any  kind  of 
ritual,  whether  low  or  high,  is  indeed  a service  of 
pure  thought  or  rapt  contemplation  of  the  Infinite  ; 
but  every  Hindoo,  whatever  his  intellectual  grade, 
is  aware  of  and  accepts  certain  philosophic  dogmas. 
One  of  these  is  that  spirit  exists  as  well  as  matter, 
and  is  of  necessity,  under  laws  which  to  Hindoos 
seem  self-evident,  inherently  above  matter.  As  a 
fact,  for  which  no  one  can  account,  spirits  are  im- 
prisoned in  bodies,  but  spirit  is  nevertheless  above 
matter,  is  deathless,  as  most  European  thinkers  also 
believe,  but,  as  none  of  them  believe,  is  also  without 
origin.  The  spirit,  say  the  Hindoos,  or  “ soul,”  to 
use  our  Western  terminology,  can  by  no  conceivable 
possibility  have  been  created,  for  if  created  it  would 
be  liable  to  die,  and  that  which  dies  cannot  be  a 
spirit.  Swami  Vivekananda  puts  this  dogma  for- 
ward in  the  simplest  language,  not  as  a matter  of 


THE  CORE  OF  HINDOOISM 


255 


argument,  but  as  a fact  which,  to  all  who  reason, 
must  be  self-evident.  He  says  : “ Here  I stand, 
and  if  I shut  my  eyes  and  try  to  conceive  my  exist- 
ence, * I,’  ‘ I,’  ‘ I,’  what  is  the  idea  before  me  ? The 
idea  of  a body.  Am  I,  then,  nothing  but  a combi- 
nation of  matter  and  material  substances  ? The 
Vedas  declare,  ‘ No.’  I am  a spirit  living  in  a body. 
I am  not  the  body.  The  body  will  die,  but  I will 
not  die.  Here  am  I in  this  body,  and  when  it  will 
fall  still  will  I go  on  living.  Also  I had  a past. 
The  soul  was  not  created  from  nothing,  for  creation 
means  a combination,  and  that  means  a certain  future 
dissolution.  If,  then,  the  soul  was  created,  it  must 
die.  Therefore,  it  was  not  created.”  The  soul 
being  uncreated  must  be  an  emanation  from  some- 
thing self-existent,  and  that  can  only  be  God  or  the 
self-existent  spirit  which  is  in  all  things  and  contains 
all  things,  being  in  truth  the  only  reality  of  which 
everything  else  is  a phenomenal  manifestation. 
Being  an  emanation,  the  soul  is  always  struggling 
to  get  back  to  its  source,  to  liberate  itself  from  the 
fetters  of  matter,  and  in  regaining  unity  with  the 
Infinite  to  regain  at  one  and  the  same  moment  free- 
dom and  “ bliss.”  The  freedom  from  matter  is 
self-evident,  and  so,  asserts  Swami  Vivekanandd,  is 
the  bliss.  He  knows  quite  well  that  to  the  highly 
individualized  Western  this  notion  of  absorption 
being  bliss,  seems  almost  absurd,  or  at  least  an  asser- 
tion that  torpor  is  bliss,  and  he  meets  that  difficulty 
with  almost  childlike  directness  : — “We  have  often 


256 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


and  often  read  about  this  being  called  the  losing  of 
individuality  as  in  becoming  a stock  or  a stone.  I 
tell  you  it  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  If  it  is  happiness 
to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  this  small  body,  it  must 
be  more  happiness  to  enjoy  the  consciousness  of 
two  bodies,  or  three,  four,  or  five — and  the  ultimate 
of  happiness  would  be  reached  when  this  sense  of 
enjoyment  would  become  a universal  consciousness.” 
As  the  spirit  or  soul  is  uncreated  and  cannot  die, 
and  struggles  always  to  regain  its  habitat,  and  as 
clearly  a great  many  men  are  not  fit  to  regain  it  at 
once,  it  follows  almost  as  a matter  of  course  that 
the  soul  lives  repeatedly  in  a conscious  being,  that 
is,  is  “ transmigrated,”  a fact  of  which  the  memory 
of  most  men  gives  them  no  consciousness — any 
more,  says  the  Madrassee  Brahmin  smilingly,  than 
a Madrassee’s  memory  gives  him  his  English  be- 
fore he  wants  it  and  compels  it  to  come  to  his  mind 
— but  which  is  nevertheless  a fact  proved  by  two 
arguments.  If  we  have  no  past,  our  misfortunes 
are  injustices,  and  God  is  a cruel  tyrant,  which  is 
impossible  ; and  moreover  certain  “ Rishis  ” — 
“ saints  ” will  do  as  a translation — have  positively 
remembered  many  lives,  or  even  all  their  lives, — a 
huge  conception,  which  the  Swami  nevertheless 
asserts  may  be  true  of  all  men  : — “ This  is  direct  and 
demonstrative  evidence.  Verification  is  the  perfect 
proof  of  a theory,  and  here  is  the  challenge  thrown 
to  the  world  by  our  Rishis.  We  have  discovered 
the  secrets  by  which  the  very  depths  of  the  ocean 


THE  CORE  OF  HIND001SA1 


257 


of  memory  can  be  stirred  up — follow  them  and  you 
will  get  a complete  reminiscence  of  your  past  life.” 
“ Freedom  ” then  being  the  end,  how  is  freedom 
to  be  obtained  ? It  may  be  obtained,  says  the 
Hindoo,  by  all  men,  by  the  Christian  no  less  than 
by  himself,  if  only  he  will  become  “ pure  ” ; and  it 
is  in  this  effort  after  “purity”  that  Hindooism  as  we 
see  it  arises.  Each  sect,  each  caste,  each  subdi- 
vision of  a caste,  strives  for  it  in  its  own  way,  and 
so  long  as  the  way  tends  to  subordinate  matter  to 
spirit,  no  way  is  wrong.  Swami  Vivekananda 
rejects  utterly,  as  we  understand  him,  the  idea 
that  any  worship  can  be  sinful,  and  regards  all  as 
strugglers,  some,  like  children,  requiring  images  and 
ritual  to  wake  the  consciousness  of  spirit  in  them  ; 
but  all  pressing  forward,  though  with  many  fallings 
back,  to  a goal  that  must  ultimately  be  attained. 
“ Ye  are  the  children  of  God,”  he  says,  “ the  sharers 
of  immortal  bliss,  holy  and  perfect  beings.  Ye, 
divinities  on  earth,  sinners  ? It  is  a sin  to  call  a 
man  so.  It  is  a standing  libel  on  human  nature. 
Come  up,  O lions ! and  shake  off  the  delusion  that 
you  are  sheep — you  are  souls  immortal,  spirits  free 
and  blest  and  eternal,  ye  are  not  matter,  ye  are  not 
bodies.  Matter  is  your  servant,  not  you  the  servant 
of  matter.  ...  If  a man  can  realize  his  divine 
nature  most  easily  with  the  help  of  an  image,  would 
it  be  right  to  call  it  a sin  ? Nor,  even  when  he  has 
passed  that  stage,  should  he  call  it  an  error.  To 
the  Hindoo,  man  is  not  travelling  from  error  to 


s 


258 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


truth,  but  from  truth  to  truth,  from  lower  to  higher 
truth.  To  him  all  the  religions,  from  the  lowest 
fetishism  to  the  highest  absolutism,  mean  so  many 
attempts  of  the  human  soul  to  grasp  and  realize  the 
Infinite,  each  determined  by  the  conditions  of  its 
birth  and  association  ; and  each  of  these  religions, 
therefore,  marks  a stage  of  progress,  and  every  soul 
is  a child-eagle  soaring  higher  and  higher,  gather- 
ing more  and  more  strength  till  it  reaches  the 
Glorious  Sun.” 

This,  then,  is  the  inner  Hindooism,  the  belief 
which  every  Hindoo  accepts,  and  which  sanctifies  to 
him  every  act  which  he  thinks  or  fancies  or  dreams 
may  be  worship.  The  lowest  forms  of  idolatry,  the 
most  prejudicial  rules  of  caste,  the  most  cruel  acts 
of  self-maceration  all  help  him  on,  as  he  believes, 
towards  that  “ liberation  ” from  the  chain  of  matter 
which  is  to  him  the  ideal  and  the  perfect  condition. 
No  Hindoo,  however  low,  is  wholly  without  this 
belief,  and,  as  we  suspect,  no  Hindoo,  even  if  he 
becomes  a Christian,  shakes  himself  in  one  genera- 
tion wholly  free  from  its  influence.  It  is  not  our 
business,  of  course,  to  reply  to  Hindoo  advocates, — 
to  point  out  that  their  theory  presupposes  an  end- 
less cycle  organized  rather  by  Fate  than  God  ; that 
the  impossibility  of  the  creation  of  a spirit  is  a denial 
of  omnipotence  ; that  there  is  no  particle  of  evidence 
for  transmigration ; or  that  their  heaven,  when 
attained,  is  only  sleep,  however  blissful,  even  if  it 
be  not,  as  regards  individual  existence,  simple  anni- 


259 


) 

THE  CORE  OF  HIND  00 ISM 


hilation.  All  we  wish  to  point  out  to-day  is  that 
the  Hindoos  have  behind  their  apparent  creed 
another,  which  cannot  fairly  be  denounced  as  either 
savage  or  ignoble,  and  that  this  creed  is  in  its  essence 
more  hostile  to  Christianity  than  even  sincere  Chris- 
tians are  apt  to  believe.  It  rests  on  a totally 
different  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  who,  says  Swami  Vivekananda,  with  all 
thinking  Hindoos,  cannot  be  an  individual,  or 
possess  “ qualities  ” ; on  a radically  separate  concep- 
tion of  the  soul,  which  in  Hindooism  is  practically 
self-existent,  and  on  a method  of  struggling  towards 
heaven  which  may  be  in  the  highest  minds  a lofty 
dominance  of  matter  by  spirit,  but  may  also  be  in 
average  men  nothing  but  a low  formalism  adopted, 
no  doubt,  with  an  idea  of  rising,  but  no  more  calcu- 
lated to  make  a man  rise  than  any  form  of  the 
fetishism  to  which  our  Brahmin  compares  it.  His 
tolerance,  of  which  he  is  so  proud,  is  hardly  distin- 
guishable from  indifference  to  truth,  and  we  wish  he 
would  tell  us  in  a pamphlet  as  brief  as  this  one,  what 
his  ideas  as  to  the  final  division  between  right  and 
wrong  really  are,  and  how  far  Hindooism  actually 
asserts  what  it  always  seems  to  assert,  that  that  may 
be  right  in  one  man,  one  caste,  or  one  nation  which 
is  hopelessly  wrong  in  another.  As  we  read  his 
present  pamphlet  we  understand  him  to  say  that 
anything  done  with  the  idea  of  getting  higher  is  a 
virtuous  act.  Does  he,  in  so  teaching,  recognize 
the  existence  of  a sovereign  and  universal  consci- 


26o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


ence,  be  it  instinctive  or  be  it  revealed,  or  not  ? 
We  have  tried  for  years,  as  patiently  as  a European 
may,  to  decide  what  Hindoos  like  the  Swami  think 
on  that  point,  and  we  remain  in  a fog  still.  We 
cannot,  that  is,  perceive  how  great  Hindoo  doctors 
permit  polygamy  in  one  caste — not  to  mention  much 
worse  things — and  denounce  it  in  another,  yet  keep 
up  any  unalterable  distinctions  based  on  the  teach- 
ing of  the  inner  light.  And  without  that  light  how 
does  a Hindoo  know  what  will  raise  him  higher  ? 


Cruelty  in  Europe  and  Asia 

IN  considering  the  differences,  radical  or  acci- 
dental, which  divide,  and,  as  we  believe, 
always  will  divide,  Asiatics  from  Europeans,  one 
of  the  most  perplexing  is  the  different  estimates 
they  apparently  form  of  cruelty.  The  horror 
naturalis  for  that  form  of  criminality  which  un- 
doubtedly marks  Englishmen,  and  in  a less  degree 
all  European  peoples,  seems  not  to  extend  to 
Asiatics  at  all.  The  Chinese  officials  constantly 
sentence  political  offenders  to  the  most  awful  tor- 
tures,— to  be  killed,  for  example,  by  a slow  chopping 
into  little  bits.  The  King  who  ruled  in  Burmah  in 
1850  habitually  sentenced  the  women  of  any  family 
whose  head  was  convicted  or  suspected  of  treason, 
to  be  ripped  up — the  great  American  missionary, 
Dr.  Kincaid,  saw  it  done,  and  risked  his  own  life 
by  felling  the  executioner — and  their  children  to  be 
pounded  up  in  the  mortars  used  for  pounding  grain. 
The  wife  of  Theebau,  the  King  whom  we  dethroned, 
is  said  to  have  delivered  fearful  sentences,  which 
we  do  not  recount  because  the  evidence  is  still  so 

imperfect  and  so  impaired  by  the  wish  to  attribute 

261 


262 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


extra  cruelty  to  a dethroned  House.  The  charge 
against  the  late  Guicowar  of  having  offenders 
stamped  to  death  by  elephants,  appears  however 
to  be  true  ; while  every  traveller  in  Persia  relates 
horrible  stories  of  brigands  and  others  being  built 
alive  into  stone  walls,  the  head  alone  protruding. 
Jung  Bahadoor,  we  all  know,  shot  with  his  own 
hands  a large  company  of  his  opponents  beguiled 
into  a royal  hall ; and  a few  years  ago  telegrams 
were  received  asserting  that  a Khan  of  Khelat 
had  slain  three  thousand  of  his  subjects — not  in 
battle  — and  had  “ murdered  ” sixty-five  persons 
of  distinction,  including  five  of  his  own  wives, 
and  had  in  consequence  been  deposed  by  the 
Government  of  India.  There  are  scores  of  such 
stories,  most  of  them  true  ; and  the  point  we 
wish  to  discuss  is  why  punishment  so  seldom  fol- 
lows from  within  ? Why  do  not  the  people  depose 
these  bloodthirsty  rulers  for  themselves  ? It  is 
certainly  not  because  they  are  afraid.  Nobody  is, 
or  can  be,  braver  than  a Mahratta  or  a Persian. 
They  insurrect,  if  they  are  moved  to  insurrect,  when- 
ever they  choose,  often,  as  in  the  Bab  insurrection, 
when  they  have  no  chance  at  all ; and  must  be  aware 
that  they  are  giving  their  lives  for  a cause  lost 
beyond  redemption.  Nor  is  it  because  insurrection 
is  hopeless.  In  most  of  the  countries  specified,  and, 
indeed,  in  all  countries  throughout  Asia  except 
Turkey  and,  of  late  years,  China,  the  armed  people, 
if  in  earnest,  could  master  their  rulers  speedily 


CRUELTY  IN  EUROPE  AND  ASIA 


263 


enough ; while,  in  all,  if  the  army  rebelled,  the 
Sovereigns  would  have  no  alternatives  but  submis- 
sion, flight,  or  suicide.  Yet  popular  insurrection 
against  cruelty  is  an  unheard-of  event.  The  truth 
is,  the  people  do  not  care ; and  the  point  we  want 
to  arrive  at  is  the  ultimate  reason  why.  Is  it  that 
they  feel  some  singular  indifference  to  the  murder 
of  others,  or  that  they  are  inherently  callous,  or 
that  cruelty  in  some  inexplicable  way  rather  con- 
tents than  horrifies  them  ? All  these  explanations 
so  constantly  put  forward  are  in  a measure  true, 
but  behind  them  all  is  another  probably  more  potent 
than  them  all  put  together.  That  Asiatics  regard 
life  differently  from  Europeans  is,  of  course,  a patent 
fact.  If  it  were  not,  all  Asiatics  could  not  have 
adopted  creeds  in  which  contempt  for  life,  amount- 
ing often  to  a distaste  for  separate  consciousness,  is 
a cardinal  dogma.  The  Buddhist  and  the  Hindoo 
alike  base  their  creeds  upon  the  latter  feeling  ; while 
the  Mahommedans,  without  exception,  hold  death 
for  the  faith  the  one  direct  passport  to  immortal 
bliss.  It  is  also  true  that  Asiatics  are  callous,  lack- 
ing that  side  of  the  imagination  which  we  call  sym- 
pathy, and  which  has  become  so  dominant  among 
ourselves,  that  we  are  apt  to  forget  how  compara- 
tively recent  its  development  has  been.  It  is  not  two 
hundred  years  since  Englishmen  allowed  untried 
prisoners  to  die  of  typhoidal  disease,  produced  by 
starvation  and  neglect ; not  fifty  years  since  Eng- 
lishmen across  the  water  maintained  the  Black 


264 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Code  ; and  not  two  months  or  two  days  since  the 
same  people  in  the  Western  States  defended  and 
practised  burning  alive  as  the  fitting  penalty  for 
strongly  suspected  rape.  Sympathy  is  still  imper- 
fect even  among  white  men ; and  in  Asia,  with 
individual  exceptions  of  the  most  extraordinary  kind 
— inexplicable,  indeed,  if  there  be  no  such  thing  as 
prevenient  grace — sympathy  has  yet  to  be  born. 
Nor  should  we  deny  that  among  Asiatics  cruelty, 
and  especially  cruelty  in  putting  to  death,  does  excite 
a certain  kind  of  admiration  as  a conspicuous  and 
unmistakable  exhibition  of  energy.  Mr.  Morier, 
who  probably  understood  Persians  as  no  other 
European  ever  understood  them,  takes  great  pains 
in  all  his  books  to  assert  and  reassert  this  trait  in 
Persian  character  ; and  it  comes  out  strongly  in  the 
Sikh  admiration  for  Runjeet  Singh,  and  the  Afghan 
reverence  for  Abdurrahman  Khan.  Still,  after 
making  these  admissions,  there  remains  something 
else  ; which  is  this.  The  Asiatic  substitute  for  law 
is  the  will  of  the  ruler,  a will  which,  believing  that 
power  comes  from  God,  he  reverences  even  in  his 
thoughts.  We  are  apt  to  think  that  he  only  sub- 
mits to  a tyranny  which  he  cannot  help  ; but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  when  he  can  help  it,  he  does  not  do 
it.  There  have  been  more  revolutions  in  Asia  than 
in  Europe ; but  there  has  never  been  a case  in 
which  the  brown  man  or  the  yellow  man  has 
deprived  his  new  ruler  of  the  power  of  inflicting 
death  by  fiat.  He  regards  his  will  as  law  in  its 


CRUELTY  IN  EUROPE  AND  ASIA 


265 


true  sense,  and  is  no  more  offended  when  he  orders 
executions  than  the  Frenchman  was  offended  when 
traitors  were  broken  on  the  wheel,  than  the  Spaniard 
was  offended  when  relapsed  heretics  were  burned, 
or  than  Englishmen  were  offended  when  criminals 
were  hanged  for  larceny  or  breaches  of  the  revenue 
law.  The  law,  as  the  Asiatic  understands  it,  has 
sentenced  those  whom  the  Sovereign  dooms,  and 
he  is  satisfied,  even  though  the  law,  in  its  severity 
or  capriciousness,  should  threaten  himself.  So  may 
the  lightning  or  the  smallpox ; yet  both  of  them  are 
the  manifestations  of  a will  that  cannot  err,  resist- 
ance to  which  is  futile  and,  in  some  sense,  impious. 
It  is  not  that  he  approves  murder,  or  does  not  fear 
murder.  He  sets  up  governments,  and  pays  taxes 
first  of  all  to  be  protected  against  murder ; but  when 
the  murderer  is  the  ruler  he  submits,  as  we  submit 
to  law.  We  are  not  sure  whether  the  same  senti- 
ment, though  it  sprang  from  a different  origin,  did 
not  once  prevail  in  Europe, — whether,  that  is,  the 
Roman  did  not  hold  the  murderous  fury  of  an 
Emperor  like  Nero  or  Valentinian  to  be  a legal 
fury,  something  which,  proceeding  from  the  rightful 
possessor  of  the  dictatorship,  became  from  that  fact 
alone  legally  right  and  incontestable.  We  do  not 
find  that  Romans  bore  wrongs  from  each  other, 
much  less  murders,  without  complaint,  nor  were 
they  always  cowed  by  the  Praetorians. 

Why  the  brown  man  and  the  yellow  man  thus 
exalts  the  ruler’s  will  is,  we  confess,  still  to  us  a 


266 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


nearly  unsolved  mystery.  It  is  not  altogether 
because  he  is  Asiatic,  for  the  average  Russian — 
who  is  as  purely  white  as  we  are,  that  talk  of  his 
Tartar  origin  having  no  historic  basis — did  it  too, 
and  regarded  Ivan  the  Terrible  as  a Monarch  of 
singular  force  of  character  and  ability.  Nor  is  it 
from  any  deficiency  of  intelligence.  The  Asiatic 
restrains  the  Monarch  completely  upon  the  points 
he  chooses — religion,  for  instance,  and  general  taxa- 
tion— and  he  not  only  comprehends  a regime  of 
written  law,  but  he  is  of  all  men  the  most  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  it.  Only  he  never  likes  it ; and 
from  the  days  of  Saul  to  the  days  of  Rajah  Brooke, 
whenever  he  has  accepted  a King,  he  has  wished 
his  authority  to  be  unrestrained.  He  will  change 
the  ruler  if  he  is  intolerable,  but  he  never  chains 
him, — though  he  could  chain  him  easily  enough, 
ordering  him  to  respect  his  subjects’  lives  as  he 
respects  their  religious  ceremonials.  The  Asiatic 
says  himself — or  at  least  we  have  heard  a great 
Asiatic  thinker  say  so  a hundred  times — that  a 
regime  of  law  is  a regime  of  injustice,  that  no  law 
can  meet  individual  cases  ; and  that,  in  particular, 
no  law  can  be  constructed  so  as  to  reward  the  good, 
which  is  half  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  But 
we  are  not  sure  that  this  is  his  real  belief.  The 
religious  law  is  open  to  precisely  the  same  objec- 
tions ; yet  he  reverences  that  and  reduces  it  to 
writing,  and  in  most  countries  invents  a “ case 
book  ” for  its  further  application  and  explanation. 


CRUELTY  IN  EUROPE  AND  ASIA 


267 


We  suspect  he  is  much  more  influenced  in  his 
strange  practice,  from  which  in  three  thousand 
years  he  has  never  deviated,  by  a wish  to  make 
the  State  as  like  the  universe  as  he  can — the  uni- 
verse which  is  controlled  by  some  irresponsible,  self- 
depending  deity  or  spirit  or  fate,  whose  will,  as  seen 
in  action,  it  is  often  impossible  to  explain.  The 
bolt  strikes  the  tiger  or  the  lamb ; and  as  is  the  bolt, 
so  is  the  will  of  the  ruler  strong  enough  to  keep 
his  throne.  The  fact  that  the  lamb  is  dead  is  no 
argument  against  the  system  of  the  universe  ; it  is 
only  an  argument  that  we  do  not  understand  it. 
We  all  acknowledge  that  in  theory ; but  with  the 
Asiatic  his  theory  is  a practical  guide  in  life,  and  he 
no  more  considers  his  ruler’s  cruelty  immoral,  unless 
indeed  specially  directed  against  himself,  than  he 
considers  the  earthquake  or  the  flood. 


The  Variety  of  Indian  Society 

TH  E grand  difficulty,  as  any  experienced  Anglo- 
Indian  will  tell  you,  of  talking  to  an  English- 
man about  India,  is  that  he  always  forms  a picture 
of  the  place  in  his  mind.  It  may  be  accurate  or 
inaccurate,  but  it  is  always  a picture.  He  thinks 
of  it  either  as  a green  delta,  or  a series  of  sun-baked 
plains,  or  a wild  region  with  jungle  and  river  and 
farms  all  intermixed  ; or  a vast  park  stretched  out 
by  Nature  for  sportsmen,  and  sloping  somehow  at 
the  edges  towards  highly  cultivated  plains.  It  never 
occurs  to  him  that  as  regards  external  aspect,  there 
is  no  India  ; that  the  peninsula  so  called  is  as  large 
as  Europe  west  of  the  Vistula,  and  presents  as  many 
variations  of  scenery.  East  Anglia  is  not  so  differ- 
ent from  Italy  as  the  North-West  Provinces  from 
Bengal,  nor  are  the  Landes  so  unlike  Normandy  as 
the  Punjab  is  unlike  the  hunting  districts  of  Madras. 
There  is  every  scene  in  India — from  the  eternal 
snow  of  the  Himalayas,  as  much  above  Mont  Blanc 
as  Mont  Blanc  is  above  Geneva,  to  the  rice  swamps 
of  Bengal  all  buried  in  fruit  trees  ; from  the  wonder- 
ful valleys  of  the  Vindhya,  where  beauty  and 

268 


THE  VARIETY  OF  INDIAN  SOCIETY  269 


fertility  seem  to  struggle  consciously  for  the  favour 
of  man,  to  the  God-forgotten  salt  marshes  by  the 
Runn  of  Cutch.  It  is  the  same  with  indigenous 
Indian  society.  The  Englishman  thinks  of  it  as  an 
innumerable  crowd  of  timid  peasants,  easily  taxed 
and  governed  by  a few  officials,  or  as  a population 
full  of  luxurious  princes,  with  difficulty  restrained 
by  scientific  force  and  careful  division  from  eating 
up  each  other.  In  reality,  Indian  society  is  more 
complex  and  varied  than  that  of  Europe,  comprising 
it  is  true,  a huge  mass  of  peasant-proprietors,  but 
yet  full  of  Princes  who  are  potentates  and  Princes 
who  are  survivals,  of  landlords  who  are  in  all 
respects  great  nobles,  and  landlords  who  are  only 
squireens,  of  great  ecclesiastics  and  hungry  curates, 
of  merchants  like  the  Barings  and  merchants  who 
keep  shops,  of  professors  and  professionals,  of 
adventurers  and  criminals,  of  cities  full  of  artificers, 
and  of  savages  far  below  the  dark  citizens  of  Hawaii. 
Let  any  one  who  thinks  Indian  society  a plain, 
study  for  an  hour  Sir  Roper  Lethbridge’s  Golden 
Book  of  India , just  issued  by  Messrs.  Macmillan, 
and  he  will  give  up  that  absurdity  at  least.  It  is 
not  a perfect  book  by  any  means,  as  its  editor  him- 
self perceives,  but  rather  the  foundation  of  a book 
to  be  improved  into  completeness ; but  at  least  it 
will  teach  any  reader  that  Indian  society  is  not  a 
democracy,  that  amidst  all  these  peasants  and  offi- 
cials stand  hundreds,  or  rather  thousands,  of  families 
as  distinct  from  the  masses  as  the  Percys  from 


270 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


English  labourers,  three  hundred  of  them  ruling 
States  large  or  small — one  is  bigger  than  the  British 
Isles  ; one  only  two  miles  square — three  thousand  of 
them  perhaps  who  on  the  Continent  would  be 
accounted  nobles,  some  with  pedigrees  like  those  of 
the  Massimi  or  the  Zichys,  some  only  of  yesterday  ; 
but  all  as  utterly  separated  from  the  people  as  a hill 
from  the  river  at  its  base.  And  behind  them  stand 
other  thousands  of  squires,  each  with  his  own  family 
traditions,  each  with  hereditary  tenantry,  each  with 
some  position  and  character  and  specialty  which, 
within  fifty  miles  of  his  home,  are  as  well  known  as 
those  of  the  Egertons  in  Cheshire,  or  the  Luttrells 
in  West  Somerset.  And  behind  them  again  are 
millions — literally  millions — of  families,  country  and 
urban,  with  modest  means,  and  little  wish  for  advance- 
ment, yet  freeholders  to  a man,  with  histories  often 
which  trace  back  farther  than  those  of  the  Lords, 
with  a pride  of  their  own  which  is  immovable, 
and  with  characters  that  for  five  miles  are  known 
and  reckoned  on,  and,  so  to  speak,  expected , as  regu- 
larly and  as  accurately  as  if  they  were  Hohenzollerns 
in  Brandenburg.  Ask  the  Settlement  officers — who 
alone  among  Indian  officials,  except  sometimes  the 
highest,  really  know  the  people — and  they  will  tell 
you  that,  above  the  very  lowest,  no  two  Indian 
families  are  alike  in  rank  or  character  or  reputa- 
tion, or  even,  though  that  seems  so  impossible,  in 
means. 

India  is  socially  the  very  land  of  variety,  for  in 


THE  VARIETY  OF  INDIAN  SOCIETY  271 


addition  to  all  that  divides  men  in  Europe,  there 
are  three  sources  of  reverence  which  in  Europe  are 
dying  away — the  reverence  felt  for  power,  power  in 
its  direct  sense,  the  power  to  order  you  to  be  beaten, 
the  reverence  felt  for  pedigree,  and  the  reverence 
felt  for  that  which  is,  as  certain  to  have  been  decreed 
either  by  God,  or  by  that  unintelligible  and  immu- 
table Fate  which  even  He  may  not  resist.  The 
reverence  for  all  is  absolutely  genuine — that  is,  is 
without  the  alloy  of  European  scepticism  and  dislike 
of  the  great ; and  all  three  reverences  are  mingled 
in  a way  which  we  despair  of  conveying  to  the 
Western  mind.  There  are  three  hundred  Native 
rulers  in  India,  possessed,  in  theory  at  all  events,  of 
the  power  of  life  and  death  ; certain  that,  if  they 
give  the  order,  its  object  will  fall  headless  before 
them,  or  be  spirited  away  to  a dungeon,  there  to 
remain  till  the  lord’s  humour  changes.  Every 
one  of  those  men  is  believed  by  his  people,  be  they 
many  or  few,  to  have  a right  to  that  power,  and  to 
be  entitled  to  use  it  at  his  own  discretion.  For  his 
own  sake  he  should  use  it  wisely,  lest  he  should  find 
the  next  world  disagreeable,  or,  lest  his  subjects 
should  rebel ; but  the  right  is  never  denied  even  in 
the  heart.  The  British  Government  controls  it, 
sometimes,  though  not  so  often  as  Englishmen 
think  ; but  the  subjects  never,  except  by  rebellion, 
which  is  not  a declaration  that  the  power  is  bad,  but 
the  user  of  the  power.  The  late  Gaekwar  was  not 
unpopular,  though  he  is  said  to  have  made  his 


272 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


elephants  tread  out  men’s  bowels,  often  for  inade- 
quate offence.  Power  is  of  God,  and  to  have  such 
power  the  ruler  must,  in  a former  life,  have  heaped 
up  virtues  ; and  the  little  Mahrattas,  brave  as  steel, 
bowed  their  heads  in  genuine  loyalty  and  devotion. 
And  this,  though  the  Gaekwar  bears  a name,  “ the 
Herdsman,”  which,  a hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
was,  we  would  deferentially  suggest  to  Sir  Roper 
Lethbridge,  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  nickname 
of  the  leader  of  a troop  of  patriot  brigands  such  as 
followed  the  founder  of  the  House  of  Anjou.  This 
reverence  for  power  is  the  true  root  of  the  astound- 
ing variety  of  names  which  the  Princes  have  gradu- 
ally adopted.  “Nizam”  is  only  “ Administrator,” 
but  it  suffices  to  the  most  powerful  King  in  India. 
“ Dewan  ” is  only  “ Finance  Minister,”  but  it  is  the 
title  of  several  rulers.  “ Gaekwar,”  as  we  have  said, 
is  only  “ Herdsman,”  but  the  reigning  Prince  of 
Baroda  is  as  willing  to  be  called  that  as  Maharaja. 
The  power  being  clear,  nothing  else  matters,  save 
only  birth,  and  on  this  the  Indian  holds,  and  holds 
hard,  by  both  theories.  Want  of  pedigree  does  not 
interfere  with  the  position  of  the  Gaekwar,  or  Sindia, 
or  Holkar,  as  it  did  not  interfere  with  the  reverence 
felt  for  Hyder  Ali,  a corporal’s  son,  or  for  Runjeet 
Singh,  a village  officer  ; and  yet,  if  pedigree  be  not 
the  main  factor  in  Indian  life,  all  observers  alike  are 
at  fault.  The  Maharana  of  Udaipur  (Oodeypore) 
is  first  among  Hindoos,  because,  whether  he  descends 
from  Rama  or  not,  it  is  eighteen  hundred  years  or 


THE  VARIETY  OF  INDIAN  SOCIETY  273 


more  since  he,  even  then  head  of  a family  which  had 
resisted  Alexander,  settled  down  in  Rajpootana  to 
reign  till  the  Black  Era  should  disappear  in  the 
endless  progress  of  time.  The  Maharaja  of 
Travancore  certainly  reigned,  as  even  Sir  Roper 
Lethbridge  allows — and  he  is  careful  to  understate 
legendary  pedigrees — in  352  a.d.,  and  we  see  no 
reason  for  doubting  the  local  belief,  which  asserts 
that  even  then  he  sprang  of  the  Emperors  of  Mala- 
bar, a family  lost  in  the  night  of  time,  and  because 
of  that  descent  he  is  in  his  own  dominions  almost 
divine.  The  Maharaja  of  Calicut,  whom  the  Natives 
and  English  alike  used  to  call  the  “ Zamorin,”  that 
is,  “ the  Admiral,”  because  he  reigned,  like  the  Deys 
of  Algiers,  over  a pirate  fleet,  is  nearly  or  quite  as 
old  ; and  so  is  another  Prince,  eighty-eighth  sove- 
reign of  his  comparatively  obscure  dynasty.  But 
why  should  we  multiply  instances  when  caste  itself 
hangs  on  pedigree,  and  when  in  1857  every 
mutinous  Brahmin  Sepoy  who  sprung  to  arms  pro- 
claimed the  Emperor  of  Delhi,  a powerless  Mahom- 
medan  voluptuary,  the  birth-lord,  and  therefore 
rightful  lord,  of  India  from  Herat  to  Adam’s  Bridge  ? 
As  to  the  third  source  of  reverence,  how  are  we  to 
describe  it,  unless  we  quote  the  Highland  story  of 
the  woman,  whose  husband  falling  under  feudal  dis- 
pleasure, said  to  him,  with  an  embrace  and  a sigh, 
“ Gang  up  and  be  hangit,  Donald,  and  dinna  anger 
the  laird.”  There  spoke  the  true  Indian  when 
face  to  face  with  the  irresistible ; and  in  that  tran- 


T 


274 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


quillity  under  suffering,  if  only  it  is  customary,  and 
therefore  ordained,  is  a source  of  distinctions  of 
grade  such  as  Europe  can  hardly  conceive.  A man 
may  rise  in  India,  by  the  sword  or  by  favouritism 
or  by  chicane,  even  more  rapidly  than  in  Europe  ; 
but  if  he  does  not  rise,  he  accepts  the  effect  of  a 
violent  difference  of  grade  as  English  labourers 
accept  the  seasons.  Who  is  he,  to  resist  what 
Nature  has  decreed  ? And  finally,  right  across 
these  distinctions  come  the  ecclesiastical  ones, 
cutting  them,  as  it  were,  into  bits,  yet  leaving  them 
entire.  No  power,  no  character,  no  pedigree,  can 
make  the  Hindoo  Prince  the  equal  of  any  Brahmin 
in  his  dominion.  The  Maharaja  of  Nepal,  absolute 
as  deity,  or  the  Maharaja  of  Travancore,  with  his 
matchless  pedigree,  or  the  last  Sindia,  with  the 
floors  of  his  harem  apartments  bursting  with  their 
treasures  in  metal,  is  alike  a mere  dog  by  the  side 
of  the  Brahmin  whom  he  could  order  to  be  tortured 
for  an  impertinent  word. 

There  is  not,  that  we  see,  the  faintest  chance  that 
this  extreme  variety  in  the  conditions  and  rank  of 
Indians  will  ever  fade  away.  The  English  have 
tried  hard  for  a hundred  years  to  drag  the  steam- 
roller of  their  doctrine  of  equal  rights  over  the  sur- 
face of  Indian  society,  but  their  success  has  been 
very  slight.  They  have  smitten  down  the  Emperor 
of  Delhi  and  a few  Princes,  but  three  hundred  men 
remain  beyond  the  law ; and  they  have  crippled  the 
nobles  without  effacing  them,  have,  indeed,  as  Sir 


THE  VARIETY  OF  INDIAN  SOCIETY  275 


Roper  Lethbridge  points  out,  added  to  their  number. 
If  they  remain,  they  will  be  afraid,  indeed,  they  are 
already  afraid,  to  level  the  whole  of  Native  society, 
lest  the  whirlwind  should  some  day  upheave  the 
grains  of  sand,  and  leave  them  for  ever  buried  in 
the  dunes.  They  will  maintain  rank,  if  not  privilege, 
as  long  as  they  can  ; and  as  for  the  Natives,  differ- 
ences of  rank  are  to  them  almost  sacred.  They  will 
die  for  precedence,  slaughter  for  position,  and  wage 
war  for  generation  after  generation  for  recognized 
power  among  their  fellows.  Why  not?  Where 
God  is  believed  to  have  made  caste,  equality  is 
nonsense,  as  much  nonsense  as  election  must  be 
where  power  is  held  to  spring  from  God  alone.  The 
All  may  speak,  no  doubt,  through  the  shout  of  a 
mob  ; but  he  may  also  speak  through  the  sword,  or 
descent,  or  ecclesiastical  fiat ; and,  in  either  case,  he 
who  is  chosen  is,  while  he  retains  the  Divine  protec- 
tion as  evidenced  by  his  keeping  his  throne,  absolute 
and  irresponsible  save  to  the  All  alone.  It  is  not 
that  the  idea  of  equality  has  not  penetrated  into 
India,  as  so  many  say,  for  every  idea  has  penetrated 
there,  and  rank  is  even  now  independent  of  occupa- 
tion— the  Raja,  as  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes, 
sweeping  the  dust  from  the  Koolin  clerk’s  feet  with 
his  own  forehead — but  that  it  has  penetrated  and 
has  been  deliberately  rejected  as  inconsistent  with 
the  whole  scheme  of  the  universe.  How  can  there 
be  equality  when  one  man  may  have  lived  fifty  lives 
of  virtue,  and  another  fifty  of  vice,  and  the  one  be 


276 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


justly  rewarded  by  being  the  slave  or  prisoner  of 
the  other  ? There  never  will  be  equality  in  India, 
even  in  the  desire  of  the  people,  unless  the  Mussul- 
mans restore  their  Empire ; and  even  the  Mussul- 
mans have  been  deeply  touched  by  the  Hindoo 
genius,  and  allow  to  antiquity  and  pedigree  and 
position  claims  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  social 
teaching  of  the  Prophet,  who  made  a black  slave 
Commander-in-Chief  of  a great  army. 

We  have  hardly  left  ourselves  space  to  discuss 
the  question  whether  the  English  have  acted  wisely 
in  introducing  into  India  their  own  ideas  of  rank. 
Sir  Roper  Lethbridge,  who  has  had  much  informa- 
tion given  him  from  the  Indian  Foreign  Office, 
seems  to  think  they  have.  We  always  bow  before 
real  experts,  but  our  own  impressions  tend  to  a con- 
trary conclusion.  The  Star  should,  we  think,  have 
been  reserved  for  Europeans  who  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  such  a decoration  ; and  the  Government 
should  have  used,  as,  indeed,  it  does  use,  the  system 
of  native  rank  lying  ready  to  its  hand.  It  should, 
that  is  to  say,  when  it  wished  to  reward  a man,  have 
conferred  on  him  a native  title,  whether  personal, 
hereditary,  or — an  innovation  we  strongly  advise — 
continuative,  that  is,  heritable  while  any  descendant 
of  the  new  noble,  who  was  alive  at  the  time  of  his 
creation,  shall  survive.  The  title  should  usually  be 
Raja,  or  Nuwab,  not  Maharaja,  which  implies  terri- 
tory— but  the  Foreign  Office  should  take  some 
trouble  to  grant  the  precise  title  the  recipient  most 


THE  VARIETY  OF  INDIAN  SOCIETY  277 


desires.  Even  in  France  a “Vidame”  does  not 
want  to  be  called  Marquis,  and  so  lose  half  his 
history  ; and  in  India  the  name  bestowed  by  the 
masses  is  often  the  most  acceptable  title  that  can  be 
found.  The  matter  is  not  of  much  importance, 
perhaps,  but  it  is  desirable  to  keep  up  grade  in  a 
land  where  grades  are  universally  considered  right, 
and  we  might,  we  think,  do  it  without  inflicting  on 
those  we  honour,  barbarous  names  which  the  body 
of  the  people  to  be  impressed  can  neither  pronounce 
nor  understand.  They  desire,  as  we  believe,  pre- 
cedence among  each  other,  not  precedence  among 
the  white  intruders  into  the  secluded  land.  The 
Prince  who  sat  on  his  star  gave  vulgar  expression 
to  a feeling  which  can  hardly  be  absent  from  a 
Native  mind  : “ Who  are  these  barbarians  of  yester- 
day that  they  should  think  us  honoured  with  the 
decorations  of  their  chilly  island  ? ” 


The  Vastness  of  Calamities  in  Asia 


EVEN  in  Asia,  where  everything  is  immoderate, 
where  a forest  covers  kingdoms,  a river 
deposits  a county  in  a decade,  and  man  grows  feeble 
from  an  abiding  sense  that  Nature  is  too  strong  for 
him,  there  has  been  no  calamity  in  our  time  at  once 
so  terrible  and  so  dramatic  as  the  bursting  of  the 
Yellow  River  on  September  27,  1887.  It  exceeds 
in  its  extent,  if  not  in  the  separateness  of  its  horror, 
the  submerging  of  the  island  of  Deccan  Shahbaz- 
pore  in  1876,  when  a storm-wave  in  two  hours 
swept  off  three  hundred  thousand  human  beings. 
The  Yellow  River,  larger  and  swifter  than  the 
Ganges,  and  containing  more  water  perhaps  than 
five  Danubes,  bears  to  the  immense  province  called 
Honan,  which  is  ten  thousand  square  miles  larger 
than  England  and  Wales,  much  the  relation  borne 
by  the  Po  towards  the  Lombard  Plain,  at  once  a 
blessing  and  a scourge.  Its  waters  originally  created 
the  lowlands  of  the  province  by  depositing  silt 
through  ages,  and  they  are  now  their  torment.  The 
alluvial  land,  once  above  the  water,  is  rich  with  a 
richness  of  which  Englishmen  have  no  experience, 
being  covered  with  a thick  pad  of  yellow  mould  a 

278 


THE  FASTNESS  OF  CALAMITIES  IN  ASIA  279 


hundred  feet  or  more  deep,  on  which  everything  will 
grow,  from  the  teak  tree  to  the  pineapple,  yielding, 
when  planted  with  rice,  one  hundred  and  sixty  fold, 
and  in  places  producing,  almost  without  manure  and 
with  light  ploughing,  two  full  crops  a year.  No 
people  living  by  agriculture  can  resist  the  temptation 
of  such  a soil,  and  for  ages  the  Chinese — of  all  races 
in  the  world  the  most  instinctively  agricultural — 
have  swarmed  to  these  lowlands,  to  find  that,  in 
spite  of  all  their  profits,  they  must  embank  the  river 
or  perish.  The  surplus  water  of  autumn,  probably, 
like  that  of  the  Ganges,  nine  times  the  regular  out- 
flow, rushing  down  in  huge  masses  from  the  hills  at 
a speed  of  twelve  miles  an  hour,  pours  its  overspill 
over  whole  counties,  drowning  everything  not  ten 
feet  above  the  river-level,  and  when  it  retires,  leaves, 
besides  a deposit  fatal  to  one  year’s  crop,  an  unen- 
durable variety  of  fever.  Down  go  whole  popu- 
lations at  once,  not  dead,  but  paralysed  for  work  and 
with  their  constitutions  ruined.  The  Chinese,  who 
in  their  courage  for  labour  are  a grand  people,  fought 
the  river,  embanked  it,  and  for  two  thousand  years 
at  least  reaped  enormous  harvests  from  the  pro- 
tected soil.  Every  two  centuries  or  so,  however, 
the  river,  rising  in  its  strength  like  a malignant 
genius,  swept  every  barrier  away,  cut  for  itself  a 
new  bed — nine  such  beds  are  known — and  ruined 
a province ; but  the  people  swarm  in  again,  the  new 
work  is  easier  at  first,  and  the  land  is  again  recovered 
from  the  vast  lagoons.  The  last  outburst  occurred 


28o 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


twenty-five  years  ago  ; but  the  Chinese  still  perse- 
vered, immense  dykes  were  completed,  and  the 
province  once  more  became  a garden. 

There  is,  however,  a difficulty  in  embanking  any 
river  carrying  huge  deposits.  The  Times  corres- 
pondent blunders  about  this.  He  talks  of  it  as  a 
specialty  of  the  Yellow  River,  but  every  river  carry- 
ing much  pulverized  soil  from  the  mountains  pre- 
sents the  same  perplexity  to  engineers.  The  water 
not  only  deposits  silt  where  it  debouches,  but  all 
along  its  course  ; and  if  it  is  shut  in  by  embank- 
ments, the  bed  of  the  river  incessantly  rises  higher, 
until  at  last  it  is  far  above  the  plain.  The  bed  of 
the  Po,  for  example,  is  in  places  forty  feet  above  the 
rice-lands,  and  some  of  the  dykes  of  the  Mississippi 
are  like  artificial  hills.  The  Yellow  River,  from  the 
enormous  rapidity  of  its  volume  when  swollen  by 
melted  snow,  is  the  worst  of  offenders  in  this  respect  ; 
its  new  bed,  even  in  twenty-five  years,  has  risen  far 
above  the  plain,  and  as  the  dykes  grow  from  hillocks 
into  hills,  from  mere  walls  into  ranges  of  earth- 
works like  fortress-sides,  hundreds  of  miles  long,  the 
effort  overtaxes  the  skill  of  the  engineers,  and  the 
perseverance  even  of  Chinese  labourers.  The 
ablest  engineers  in  India  were  beaten  by  the 
Damoodah,  though  it  is,  compared  with  the  Hoang- 
Ho,  like  a trumpery  European  stream,  and  though 
the  labour  available  could  hardly  be  exhausted. 
The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that,  in  all  such  cases, 
the  upper  sections  of  the  dykes  cost  too  much  for 


THE  VASTNESS  OF  CALAMITIES  IN  ASIA  281 


complete  repair,  and  tend  to  be  inadequate ; and 
when  the  Yellow  River,  gorged  with  water  from  the 
mountains  till  it  forms  in  reality  a gigantic  reservoir, 
averaging  a mile  broad,  from  three  to  five  hundred 
miles  long,  and  seventy  feet  deep,  all  suspended  in 
air  by  artificial  supports,  comes  rushing  down  in 
autumn,  the  slightest  weakness  in  those  supports  is 
fatal.  On  September  27  the  river  was  at  its  fullest, 
its  speed  was  at  its  highest,  there  was  almost  cer- 
tainly a driving  wind  from  the  West,  a bit  of  dyke 
gave  way,  the  rent  spread  for  1,200  yards,  and — our 
readers  remember,  for  Charles  Reade  described  it, 
the  rush  into  Sheffield  of  the  Holmfirth  reservoir. 
Multiply  that,  if  you  can,  by  two  thousand,  add 
exhaustless  renewals  of  the  water  from  behind — five 
Danubes  pouring  from  a height  for  two  months  on 
end — and  instead  of  a long  valley  with  high  sides 
which  can  be  reached,  think  of  a vast,  open  plain, 
flat  as  Salisbury  Plain,  but  studded  with  three 
thousand  villages,  all  swarming  as  English  villages 
never  swarm  : and  you  may  gain  a conception  of  a 
scene  hardly  rivalled  since  the  Deluge.  The  torrent, 
it  is  known,  in  its  first  and  grandest  rush,  though 
throwing  out  rivers  every  moment  at  every  incline 
of  the  land,  had  for  its  centre  a stream  thirty  miles 
wide  and  ten  feet  deep,  travelling  probably  at  twenty 
miles  an  hour — a force  as  irresistible  as  that  of  lava. 
No  tree  could  last  ten  minutes,  no  house  five,  the 
very  soil  would  be  carried  away  as  by  a supernatural 
ploughshare ; and  as  for  man, — an  ant  in  a broken 


282 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


stop-cock  in  a London  street  would  be  more  power- 
ful than  he.  Swim  ? As  well  wrestle  with  the 
Holyhead  express.  Fly  ? It  takes  hours  in  such 
a plain  to  reach  a hillock  three  feet  high,  the  water 
the  while  pouring  on  faster  than  a hunter’s  gallop. 
There  is  no  more  escape  from  such  a flood  than 
there  is  escape  from  the  will  of  God,  and  those 
Chinese  who  refused  even  to  struggle  were  the 
happiest  of  all,  because  the  quickest  dead.  Over  a 
territory  of  ten  thousand  square  miles,  or  two  York- 
shires at  least  (for  the  Missionaries  report  a wider 
area),  over  thousands  of  villages — three  thousand 
certainly,  even  if  the  capital  is  not  gone,  as  is 
believed — the  soft  water  passed,  silently  strangling 
every  living  thing,  the  cows  and  the  sheep  as  well 
as  their  owners  ; and  for  ourselves,  who  have  seen 
the  scene  only  on  a petty  scale,  we  doubt  whether 
the  “ best-informed  European  in  Pekin  ” is  not  right 
when  he  calculates  the  destruction  of  life  at  seven 
millions,  and  whether  the  Times  reporter  is  not  too 
fearful  of  being  taken  for  a romancer  when  he  re- 
duces it  to  one  or  two.  These  great  villages  are 
crammed  with  population,  and  alive  with  children  ; 
the  whole  water  of  the  Hoang- Ho  has  been  pouring 
on  them  for  two  months,  none  reaching  the  sea; 
and  even  by  the  highest  estimate  the  dead  are  fewer 
than  those  who  died  of  starvation  a few  years  ago  in 
the  famine  of  the  two  Shans.  In  Asia,  kingdoms 
and  capitals  have  perished  of  pestilence,  as  Cam- 
bodia probably,  and  Gour  certainly  did  ; and  there  is 


THE  VASTNESS  OF  CALAMITIES  IN  ASIA  283 


no  reason,  the  physical  conditions  being  favourable, 
why  equal  multitudes  should  not  perish  in  a flood. 

What  is  the  remedy  ? What  is  the  remedy  for  an 
earthquake  ? There  is  no  remedy.  In  that  division 
of  Honan,  a generation  has  been  swept  away  by  a 
fiat  stronger  than  man’s,  which  has  concentrated  into 
two  months  the  natural  and  inevitable  slaughter  of 
fifty  years.  The  Chinese  Government,  which  can 
be  stirred  by  some  things,  and  which,  when  stirred, 
has  an  elephantine  energy,  has  given  .£500,000  from 
the  central  treasury  to  repair  the  dykes,  and,  as  we 
read  the  orders,  the  whole  revenue  of  Honan  till  the 
work  is  completed;  has  stopped  32,000,0001b.  of 
rice  on  its  way  to  the  capital  and  given  it  to  the 
survivors,  and  has  ordered  all  who  are  ruined,  but 
not  dead,  to  work  at  once  on  the  dykes  under  mili- 
tary discipline.  The  labourers  will  not  be  paid,  but 
they  will  be  fed  ; the  Chinese  engineers  understand 
hydraulics  fairly  well  ; the  channel  being  new,  the 
embankments  need  not  be  cyclopean  at  first — 
though,  be  it  remembered,  the  river  of  itself  rises 
certainly  twenty  feet  in  autumn  ; — and  at  the  cost  of 
about  as  many  lives  as  were  sacrificed  on  the  Suez 
Canal,  and  which  will  fall  victims  to  the  malaria 
developed  as  the  waters  retire,  the  Yellow  River 
will  for  another  generation  be  chained  up  once  more. 
The  old  attraction  will  then  prove  irresistible ; all 
husbandmen  without  land  for  three  hundred  miles 
on  each  side  of  the  river  will  silently  steal  in  to 
settle  on  the  alluvium,  fruit  trees  will  be  planted, 


284 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


rice  will  be  sown,  and  in  five  years  life  in  Honan  will 
be  proceeding  exactly  as  before,  as  it  does  on  the 
slopes  of  Vesuvius  after  an  eruption.  For  the  past, 
therefore,  there  is  no  remedy,  and  for  the  future  little 
hope.  Nothing,  if  the  river  is  simply  dyked,  can 
prevent  its  destroying  the  dykes  when  they  reach  a 
certain  height  ; for  the  work,  increasing  every  year, 
must  at  some  point  overpower  the  resources  of  any 
State.  If  the  Chinese  Government  could  cut  a 
broad  and  deep  canal  for  three  hundred  miles  to  the 
ocean,  or  build,  amid  the  hills  from  which  the  water 
flows,  a reservoir  vast  as  an  inland  sea,  or  construct 
a second  line  of  dykes  on  each  side  five  hundred 
yards  from  the  water,  the  overspill  of  the  Yellow 
River  might  be  drained  away  in  sufficient  time  to 
arrest  grand  catastrophes ; but  that  Government  is 
at  once  too  fatalistic  and  too  weak  for  such  gigantic 
efforts,  and  will  be  content  if  it  can  only  secure 
safety  for  its  own  generation,  leaving  the  next  to 
suffer  or  escape,  as  may  please  the  unknown  powers. 
It  is  useless  for  Europeans  to  advise,  or  even  to 
mourn,  for  they  can  do  nothing,  except,  indeed, 
reflect  that  for  the  safety  of  their  own  civilizations, 
perhaps  for  part  of  the  greatness  of  their  own  minds, 
they  are  indebted  to  the  pettiness  of  scale  on  which 
their  temperate  dwelling-place  has  been  constructed. 
We  owe  everything  to  the  comparative  insignificance 
of  the  works  of  Nature  in  Europe.  One  can  dyke 
the  Thames,  but  not  the  Yellow  River;  tunnel  the 
Alps,  but  not  the  Himalayas. 


A Typical  Asiatic 

FEW  careers  have  ever  been  more  instructive  to 
those  who  can  see  than  that  of  the  Maharaja 
Dhuleep  Singh,  who  died  in  Paris  in  1893  of 
apoplexy.  He  finished  life  a despised  exile,  but  no 
man  of  modern  days  ever  had  such  chances,  or  had 
seen  them  snatched,  partly  by  fate,  partly  by  fault, 
so  completely  from  his  lips.  But  for  an  accident,  if 
there  is  such  a thing  as  accident,  he  would  have 
been  the  Hindoo  Emperor  of  India.  His  father, 
Runjeet  Singh,  that  strange  combination  of  Louis 
XI.  and  Charles  the  Bold,  had  formed  and  knew 
how  to  control  an  army  which  would  have  struck 
down  all  the  Native  powers  of  India  much  more 
easily  than  did  any  of  the  Tartar  conquerors. 
Without  its  master  at  its  head,  that  army  defeated 
the  British,  and  but  for  a magnificent  bribe  paid  to 
its  general  (vide  Cunningham’s  History  of  the  Sikhs ) 
would  have  driven  the  English  from  India  and 
placed  the  child  Dhuleep  Singh  upon  the  throne  of 
the  Peninsula,  to  be  supported  there  by  Sikh  and 
Rajpoot,  Mahratta  and  Beharee.  Apart  from  the 
English  there  was  nothing  to  resist  them  ; and  they 

285 


286 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


were  guided  by  a woman,  the  Ranee  Chunda  Kour, 
who  of  all  modern  women  was  most  like  Mary  of 
Scots  as  her  enemies  have  painted  her,  and  of 
whom,  after  her  fall,  Lord  Dalhousie  said  that  her 
capture  would  be  worth  the  sacrifice  of  a brigade. 
How  Dhuleep  Singh  would  have  reigned  had 
Runjeet  Singh’s  destiny  completed  itself  is  another 
matter — probably  like  a Hindoo  Humayoon — for 
even  if  not  the  son  of  Runjeet  Singh,  who,  be  it 
remembered,  acknowledged  him,  he  inherited  ability 
from  his  mother ; he  was  a bold  man,  and  he  was, 
as  his  career  showed,  capable  of  wild  and  daring 
adventure.  He  fell,  however,  from  his  throne 
under  the  shock  of  the  second  Sikh  war,  and  began 
a new  and,  to  all  appearance,  most  promising  career. 
Lord  Dalhousie  had  a pity  for  the  boy,  and  the 
English  Court — we  never  quite  understood  why — 
an  unusually  kindly  feeling.  A fortune  of  ^40,000 
a year  was  settled  on  him,  he  was  sent  to  England, 
and  he  was  granted  rank  hardly  less  than  that  of 
a Prince  of  the  Blood.  He  turned  Christian — 
apparently  from  conviction,  though  subsequent 
events  throw  doubt  on  that — a tutor,  who  was  quite 
competent,  devoted  himself  to  his  education,  and 
from  the  time  he  became  of  age  he  was  regarded 
as  in  all  respects  a great  English  noble.  He  knew, 
too,  how  to  sustain  that  character, — made  no  social 
blunders,  became  a great  sportsman,  and  succeeded 
in  maintaining  for  years  the  sustained  stateliness  of 
life  which  in  England  is  held  to  confer  social  dig- 


A TYPICAL  ASIATIC 


287 


nity.  Confidence  was  first  shaken  by  his  marriage, 
which,  though  it  did  not  turn  out  unsuccessfully, 
and  though  the  lady  was  in  after-life  greatly  liked 
and  respected,  was  a whim,  his  bride  being  a half 
Coptic,  half  English  girl  whom  he  saw  in  an 
Egyptian  schoolroom,  and  who,  by  all  English  as 
well  as  Indian  ideas  of  rank,  was  an  unfitting  bride. 
Then  he  began  over-spending,  without  the  slightest 
necessity,  for  his  great  income  was  unburdened  by 
a vast  estate  ; and  at  last  reduced  his  finances  to 
such  a condition  that  the  India  Office,  which  had 
made  him  advance  after  advance,  closed  its  treasury 
and  left  him,  as  he  thought,  face  to  face  with  ruin. 
Then  the  fierce  Asiatic  blood  in  him  came  out. 
He  declared  himself  wronged,  perhaps  believed 
himself  oppressed,  dropped  the  whole  varnish  of 
civilization  from  him,  and  resolved  to  make  an 
effort  for  the  vengeance  over  which  he  had  prob- 
ably brooded  for  years.  He  publicly  repudiated 
Christianity,  and  went  through  a ceremony  intended 
to  readmit  him  within  the  pale  of  the  Sikh  variety 
of  the  Hindoo  faith.  Whether  it  did  readmit  him, 
greater  doctors  than  we  must  decide.  That  an 
ordinary  Hindoo  who  has  eaten  beef  cannot  be 
readmitted  to  his  own  caste,  even  if  the  eating  is 
involuntary,  is  certain,  as  witness  the  tradition  of 
the  Tagore  family ; but  the  rights  of  the  Royal  are, 
even  in  Hindooism,  extraordinarily  wide,  and  we 
fancy  that,  had  Dhuleep  Singh  succeeded  in  his 
enterprise,  Sikh  doctors  of  theology  would  have 


288 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


declared  his  readmission  legal.  He  did  not,  how- 
ever, succeed.  He  set  out  for  the  Punjab  intending, 
it  can  hardly  be  doubted,  if  the  Sikhs  acknowledged 
him,  to  make  a stroke  for  the  throne,  if  not  of 
India,  at  least  of  Runjeet  Singh  ; but  he  was 
arrested  at  Aden,  and  after  months  of  fierce  dis- 
pute, let  go,  on  condition  that  he  should  not  return 
to  India.  He  sought  protection  in  Russia,  which 
he  did  not  obtain,  and  at  last  gave  up  the  struggle, 
made  his  peace  with  the  India  Office,  took  his 
pension  again,  and  lived,  chiefly  in  Paris,  the  life 
of  a disappointed  but  wealthy  idler.  There  was 
some  spirit  in  his  adventure,  though  it  was  unwisely 
carried  out.  The  English  generally  thought  it  a 
bit  of  foolhardiness,  or  a dodge  to  extract  a loan 
from  the  India  Office  ; but  those  who  were  respon- 
sible held  a different  opinion,  and  would  have  gone 
nearly  any  length  to  prevent  his  reaching  the 
Punjab.  They  were  probably  wise.  The  heir  of 
Runjeet  might  have  been  ridiculed  by  the  Sikhs 
as  a Christian,  but  he  might  also  have  been 
accepted  as  a reconverted  man  ; and  one  successful 
skirmish  in  a district  might  have  called  to  arms  all 
the  “ children  of  the  sugar  and  the  sword,”  and  set 
all  India  on  fire.  The  Sikhs  are  our  very  good 
friends,  and  stood  by  us  against  any  revival  of  the 
Empire  of  Delhi,  their  sworn  hereditary  foe ; but 
they  have  not  forgotten  Runjeet  Singh,  and  a 
chance  of  the  Empire  for  themselves  might  have 
turned  many  of  their  heads. 


A TYPICAL  ASIATIC 


289 


Dhuleep  Singh,  though  treated  fairly  enough  by 
the  Court  and  by  the  India  Office,  received  too 
hard  a measure  from  English  opinion ; our  country- 
men judged  him  as  if  he  had  been  an  English 
noble,  and  forgot  that  an  Asiatic  has  in  his  blood 
hereditary  qualities  which  education  cannot  destroy, 
and  which  differentiate  him  materially  from  the 
European.  The  first  of  these  qualities  is  the  power 
of  his  will  in  proportion  to  his  mind.  The  will  of 
an  Asiatic,  once  fairly  roused,  closes  on  its  purpose 
with  a grip  to  which  nothing  in  the  mind  of  a 
European  can  compare,  though  Miss  Wilkins  declares 
that  the  same  peculiarity  exists  in  New  England, — 
a grip  which  seems  too  strong  for  the  conscience, 
the  judgement,  and  even  the  heart.  The  man  is 
like  one  possessed,  and  cannot,  if  he  would,  change 
his  own  self-appointed  course.  If  his  will  is  for  a 
small  thing,  we  call  it  a “ whim,”  and  wonder  that 
a man  so  keen  should  be  so  childish.  If  it  is  to 
beat  down  resistance  by  cruelty,  he  becomes  a 
tyrant  capable  of  acts  such  as  are  attributed,  perhaps 
falsely,  to  Wellington’s  Maharaja  of  Coorg.  He  is 
utterly  mastered  by  something  within  himself,  and 
will  do  acts  which  seem  to  Europeans  evidences  of 
insanity.  A quiet  Hindoo  trader,  as  respectable 
and  ordinary  as  any  man  in  Fleet  Street,  being 
moved  thereto  by  an  internal  impulse,  will  resolve 
to  go  to  Benares,  and  there  sit  a naked  Sunyasee, 
living  on  alms,  and  will  carry  out  that  resolve  for 
twenty  years,  unflinchingly,  uncomplainingly,  till 

u 


290 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


death  releases  him  from  his  sufferings.  He  may 
half  disbelieve  all  the  while ; but  his  will  has  closed, 
and,  happen  what  may,  earthquake  included,  there 
he  will  sit,  unmoved,  until  his  resolve  has  been 
fulfilled.  It  is  this  potency  of  the  will  which  is  the 
first  secret  of  all  the  strange  penances  of  India, — 
of  suttee,  of  sitting  in  dhurna,  as  well  as  of  half 
the  “ wild  ” acts  which  stud  the  history  of  the  native 
dynasties,  and  sometimes  for  Europeans  take  all 
interest  out  of  those  marvellous  romances,  their 
heroes  appearing  to  the  better  balanced  minds  of 
the  West  beings  too  unaccountable  to  be  interest- 
ing,— a whole  series,  as  it  were,  of  Charles  the 
Twelfths,  who  was  just  one  of  their  kind.  The 
man,  for  instance,  who  moves  a capital  suddenly 
from  one  spot  to  another  by  bare  fiat,  because  it 
is  his  will  to  move  it,  though  the  moving  ruins  a 
whole  population,  is  inconceivable  to  Europe  ; and 
the  notion  that  when  his  will  has  not  closed  he  may 
be  a cool  and  successful  statesman  is  rejected  as 
absurd  ; yet  that  has  occurred  in  India  over  and 
over  again.  A similar  “ possession  ” is  seen  con- 
stantly in  private  families  ; producing  the  strangest 
dramas  of  love,  vengeance,  adventure,  and,  though 
that  may  seem  bathos,  sometimes  of  cupidity, — as 
witness  the  history  of  the  Koh-i-noor.  Nothing 
would  stop  an  Indian  whose  will  had  closed  on 
obtaining  possession  of  a jewel  from  obtaining  it, 
except  sheer  physical  impossibility.  The  late 
Maharaja,  as  we  believe,  felt  just  this  impulse, 


A TYPICAL  ASIATIC 


291 


modified  probably  in  strength  by  his  knowledge  of 
its  hopelessness,  but  irresistible  nevertheless,  and 
the  pardon  which  was  ultimately  accorded  him  was, 
morally,  only  just. 

It  is  this  which  constitutes  the  inner  perplexity  of 
the  education  of  the  Princes  of  India.  We  may 
teach  them  as  lads  all  we  like,  send  them  to 
Europe,  give  them  European  habits  as  second 
natures,  turn  them  out  apparently  fit  to  be  English 
nobles ; and  then  the  tutor  who  has  devoted  his 
life  to  them  will  shake  his  head  and  acknowledge 
the  presence,  perhaps  in  his  most  promising  pupil, 
of  something  he  knows  nothing  about,  which  is 
stronger  than  all  his  teaching,  and  which  will 
always  to  the  end  of  life  render  the  results  of  his 
devotion  absolutely  uncertain.  The  lad  who  seems 
so  like  an  Etonian  may  turn  out  a saint  or  a Nana. 
What  is  certain  is,  that  if  his  will  closes,  he  will 
obey  the  dictate  of  that  will,  be  it  what  it  may, 
and  be  the  consequences  as  the  Destinies  shall 
choose.  It  is  as  if  each  man  had,  like  Socrates, 
his  daimon  outside  himself,  whom  he  was  bound, 
by  something  stronger  than  himself,  to  obey.  Had 
Dhuleep  Singh  reigned  in  the  Punjab,  he  would 
have  burst  out  some  day  just  as  he  did  here,  and 
have  been  declared  a hero  or  a madman  by  sober 
Europeans,  according  to  his  success.  That  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  cease  from  educating — we 
speak,  of  course,  without  reference  to  methods  of 
doing  it — for  we  can  but  go  on  according  to  our 


292 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


best  lights ; but  it  is  a reason  why  we  should  not 
hope  for  too  much,  and  why  we  should  not  be 
surprised  when  we  fail.  The  essential  difference 
between  a Maharaja  Dhuleep  Singh  and  a Duke  of 
Norfolk  is  deeper  than  we  dream,  and  is  not  curable 
except  in  ages  by  any  discipline.  Nor  is  the  differ- 
ence altogether  to  be  scouted  as  an  evil  fact.  The 
English  think  of  the  Maharaja’s  great  escapade  as 
if  it  were  a mere  relapse  into  savagery, — indeed, 
one  of  the  evening  papers  says  so,  comparing  him 
to  Mr.  Grant  Allen’s  Fantee  clergyman — but  sup- 
pose he  had  succeeded,  and  then  imagine,  if  that 
be  possible,  how  a Sikh  historian  would  have 
written  of  his  mind  and  his  career  ! 


Aladdin’s  Cave 

IF  Mr.  J.  C.  Robinson’s  account  of  the  Sultan’s 
Treasury  is  correct,  the  world  must,  we  fear, 
surrender  any  lingering  hope  of  finding  any 
unknown  collection  of  ancient  art  treasures  any- 
where in  the  world.  There  is  no  place  remaining 
in  which  to  look.  The  great  collections  in  Windsor 
Castle,  the  Winter  Palace  at  St.  Petersburg,  the 
Green  Vault  at  Dresden,  and  the  Vatican,  are  all 
well  known ; as  are  the  collections  in  the  great 
museums,  in  the  houses  of  wealthy  nobles,  and  in 
the  various  residences  of  the  Rothschild  family,  who 
have,  however,  rather  skimmed  the  known  collections 
offered  for  sale  than  made  any  original  collection 
of  their  own.  The  latter  operation  requires  time, 
and  the  Rothschilds  are  not  old.  There  must  be  a 
o-lorious  collection  of  treasures  of  a kind  in  the 

o 

Imperial  Palace  at  Pekin,  for  the  curiosities  and 
valuables  of  the  Further  East  have  flowed  in  there 
for  centuries,  and  have  not  been  sold  out ; but  those 
would  hardly  be  art  treasures.  There  may  be,  prob- 
ably are,  splendid  stones,  especially  stones  of  unusual 
size,  like  the  sapphire  taken  from  the  Summer 

293 


294 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Palace  by  General  Montauban, — [by-the-way,  what 
became  of  that  stone  ? when  we  saw  it,  it  was  larger 
than  a man’s  thumb,  of  a gloriously  deep  blue,  and 
the  “asking  price”  was  .£30,000] — magnificent 
specimens  of  jade,  crystal,  and  aqua  marina,  and 
vases  of  old  Chinese  china,  such  as  even  now,  when 
the  mania  has  declined,  would  set  all  the  millionaires 
of  two  Continents  agog  to  purchase.  Nothing 
European,  however,  would  be  carried  to  China,  and 
Chinese  connoisseurs  have  never  shown  any  desire 
for  art-work  not  produced  by  their  own  people,  or 
stamped  with  the  peculiar  impress  of  Turanian 
taste.  We  are  not  quite  certain,  again,  that  the 
treasures  of  Samarcand  are  dispersed.  The  plunder 
of  a world  was  collected  there  once ; and  though  it 
is  improbable,  the  Khans  of  Bokhara  may  still 
possess  articles  forwarded  by  Jenghiz  and  his 
sons’  couriers  to  that  strange  capital  at  the  back 
of  the  world  on  which  every  road  in  Asia  is  said  to 
have  once  converged.  Orientals  will  keep  together 
a treasure  of  the  kind  for  a long  time,  holding  it 
dishonourable  to  sell ; but  Russians  have  keen  eyes 
for  valuable  things,  and  we  fear  Mr.  J.  C.  Robinson, 
if  he  could  get  into  the  Bokhara  palace  would  not 
find  much  to  repay  his  pains.  There  would  be  fine 
old  armour,  stolen  originally  from  Saracens,  but 
probably  little  else.  In  Bankok  there  can  be  little 
except  glorious  china,  some  first-rate  gold  work,  and 
a few  rubies  ; and  we  question  if  General  Prender- 
gast  will  discover  a great  deal  in  Mandelay.  There 


ALADDIN'S  CAVE 


295 


ought  to  be  a priceless  collection  of  rubies  and 
sapphires  in  the  Palace,  for  Burmah  is  their  native 
land,  and  the  dynasty  has  monopolized  all  fine 
stones  for  a hundred  years.  They  may,  however, 
have  been  sold  gradually  ; though  Theebau’s  queer 
little  whine,  that  he  hoped  the  English  people 
would  allow  him  to  keep  the  ruby  on  his  finger  and 
the  diamonds  on  his  sister-wife’s  neck,  would  sug- 
gest to  any  one  acquainted  with  the  ways  of 
Asiatics,  that  he  was  exulting  to  himself  over  far 
larger  possessions,  and  had  either  concealed,  or  was 
then  carrying  about,  some  immense  store  of  gems. 
There  is  nothing  artistic,  however,  in  Mandelay. 
We  know  what  exists  in  Teheran.  The  Kajar 
dynasty  has  plundered  Persia  pretty  closely ; and 
Mr.  Murray,  the  British  Ambassador,  when  he 
received  permission  to  enter  the  Treasury,  plunged 
his  arm  into  “ buckets  ” of  rubies,  emeralds,  pearls, 
and  diamonds.  The  Shahs,  however,  sell  their 
jewels  on  emergencies ; the  late  Shah,  for  ex- 
ample, having  paid  for  his  grand  tour  in  that 
way,  and  the  Kajars  have  had  no  time.  They 
are  quite  a new  dynasty,  even  according  to  the 
calculations  of  Europe,  where  parvenus  like  the 
Bourbon  and  Hapsburg  families,  with  scarcely  ten 
centuries  behind  them,  are  accounted  old,  and  they 
have  never  conquered  the  countries  where  art  trea- 
sures could  be  obtained.  There  is,  we  believe,  no 
great  family  left  in  Asia  Minor  of  wealth  unbroken 
from  antiquity,  and  we  see  no  evidence  for  those 


2g6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


legends  of  art  treasures  in  the  Lebanon  which  so 
moved  the  imagination  of  Mr.  Disraeli.  The 
wealth  of  Antioch,  once  the  queen  city  of  art  and 
pleasure  for  the  whole  south  of  the  Mediterranean, 
may  have  gone  up  there,  and  Rustem  Pasha,  or 
a man  in  the  like  position,  might  have  ascertained 
the  truth  ; but  it  is  more  probable  that  all  have 
perished,  though  we  confess  we  should  like  to  see 
some  millionaire — say  an  energetic  member  of  the 
Rothschild  family — spend  a few  thousands  in  a 
good  dig  into  the  sands  of  the  Orontes  and  tinder 
the  crypts  upon  which  the  Temple  of  Delphi 
stood.  He  could  spare  the  money,  and  if  he 
hired  Schliemann,  or  some  obstinate  treasure-seeker 
of  that  calibre,  he  might  be  richly  rewarded. 

By  far  the  best  chance,  however,  was  the  Treasury 
of  the  Seraglio.  The  House  of  Othman  pillaged 
Thrace,  Macedonia,  Greece,  Asia  Minor,  and,  Con- 
stantinople itself,  while  they  were  still  full  of  the 
work  of  that  elder  world  which  feudal  Europe  in  its 
madness  suffered  them  — mere  barbarians  out  of 
Central  Asia — to  conquer  and  to  keep.  Constanti- 
nople, in  particular,  when  it  fell,  was  a museum 
choked  with  the  art  treasures  accumulated  for  nine 
hundred  years  by  three  civilizations — that  of  Greece, 
that  of  Rome,  and  that  of  Western  Asia.  Nothing 
like  the  Palace  of  the  Palaeologi  can  ever  have 
existed,  and  one  would  have  thought  that  the  Sul- 
tans, swordsmen  as  they  were,  would  have  taken  care 
of  their  own.  They  were  of  the  temper  to  decapi- 


ALADDIN'S  CAVE 


297 


tate  any  one  who  touched  property  of  theirs  ; they 
are  an  unbroken  though  an  enfeebled  race ; and 
they  have  had,  from  first  to  last,  men  around  them 
who  would  slay  or  die  if  they  but  received  the 
order.  We  doubt  if  they  have  lost  much  by  theft. 
Thieves  do  not  succeed,  even  in  Europe,  in  entering 
palaces,  and  they  dread  the  summary  justice  which 
in  the  East  overtakes  those  who  rob  Princes,  and 
who  can  be  slain  without  troubling  either  juries  or 
men  of  law.  The  Seraglio  Treasury,  we  take  it,  is 
intact ; but  then,  if  Mr.  Robinson  is  well  informed, 
there  is  comparatively  nothing  in  it.  There  are 
valuables,  of  course,  in  plenty,  gold  thrones 
bestudded  with  jewels  and  inlaid  with  mother-of- 
pearl,  and  vases  of  jade  and  onyx,  and  marvel- 
lous jewelled  robes  — the  authenticity  of  which 
Mr.  Robinson  doubts — and  gold  tankards,  of  which 
one  is  crusted  with  some  two  thousand  large 
diamonds  set  flat,  and  vases  full  of  coins — seldom 
gold,  says  cynical  Mr.  Robinson — and  pearls,  and 
uncut  stones — not  equal  to  the  old  gems  on  the 
thrones  and  swords — and  porcelain  bowls,  and 
inlaid  armour  of  all  ages  and  all  varieties  of  beauty. 
There  may  be,  say,  half  a million’s  worth  of  jewels 
and  bric-a-brac  ; but  of  the  things  a historian  would 
expect  to  find,  the  statues,  and  the  pictures,  and  the 
mosaics,  and  the  tables,  and  the  vases  of  an  older 
world,  which  possessed  higher  ideas  about  art  than 
that  of  sticking  diamonds  into  tankards  like  bits  of 
glass  into  a brick  wall,  there  are  no  traces.  There 


298 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


are  not  even,  moans  Mr.  Robinson,  specimens  of 
old  European  bijouterie,  though  the  Sultans  must 
for  hundreds  of  years  have  been  receiving  presents 
from  European  Courts.  We  do  not  care  for  old 
bijouterie,  but  we  do  care  for  any  specimens  that 
the  rulers  of  Byzantium — once,  be  it  remembered, 
autocrats  of  the  whole  Roman  world — may  have 
saved  from  the  far  past,  and  there  are  none.  The 
barbarians  who  entered  Constantinople  with  the 
destructive  instincts  of  children,  and  the  art  know- 
ledge of  ourang-outangs,  did  their  work  too  well. 
All  that  was  beautiful  was  useless  or  unholy  ; the 
Asiatic  troops  were  mad  with  slaughter  and  the 
lust  of  destruction,  and  everything,  except  the  great 
church  and  a column  or  two,  perished  for  ever. 
“Where  the  Turk’s  foot  is  planted,  grass  never 
grows  again,”  or  civilization  either  ; and  the  most 
precious  relics  of  antiquity  perished  at  the  bidding 
of  men  who  would  have  pronounced  a Venus  by 
Praxiteles  either  a useless  or  an  unholy  image,  and 
have  lighted  cooking-fires  above  a mosaic  a thou- 
sand years  old  and  worth  their  evil  lives  a million 
times  over.  Some  few  things  may  have  been 
saved  from  the  wreck.  The  crypts  of  St.  Sophia 
have  never  been  searched  by  civilized  men,  and  it 
is  quite  possible  that  the  thirty  guardians  of  the 
Treasury  showed  the  inquisitive  infidel,  whom  they 
would  have  liked  to  cut  down,  only  the  less  filled 
rooms  of  the  great  storehouse,  and  kept  the  most 
valuable  articles  unpolluted  by  his  gaze.  There 


ALADDIN'S  CAVE 


299 


must  be  a secret  treasure-house  as  well  as  the  more 
open  one,  and  in  it  may  be  things  worth  seeing, — 
the  plunder  of  Armenia,  for  instance  ; but  it  is  more 
probable  that  it  contains  only  a treasure  in  metals  and 
stones,  and  nothing  which  the  world  would  value. 
There  has  been  in  the  world’s  history  no  besom  of 
destruction  for  all  that  is  noble  in  man  or  splendid 
in  art  like  a Turkish  conquest,  which  effaces  all 
things  save  the  lowest  taxpayer,  and  makes  of  him 
a slave. 

We  should  like  to  know  why  Mr.  Robinson,  who 
entered  the  Sultan’s  library  of  manuscripts,  and  saw 
them  all  ranged — three  thousand  of  them — in  leather 
cases  upon  the  wall,  thinks  they  have  been  examined. 
There  is  no  record  of  such  examination,  and  no  a 
priori  reason  to  believe  that  Turks  could  either 
have  performed  the  work  or  would  allow  it  to  be 
performed.  Why  should  they  learn  infidel  learning, 
or  what  can  there  be  in  a book,  unless  it  is  a French 
novel,  which  is  not  in  the  Koran  ? The  Sultan’s 
Library  should  be  searched  through  as  the  first 
condition  of  the  next  loan  made  to  Turkey — if 
there  ever  is  another — and  permission  demanded 
to  hunt  for  that  older  and  more  valuable  store  of 
manuscripts  believed  or  known  to  be  stored  in  the 
crypt  of  St.  Sophia,  and  protected  by  the  one  useful 
superstition  of  the  Turk, — his  reluctance  to  destroy 
writing,  lest  perchance  it  should  contain  the  name 
of  God.  That  is  the  last  place  left  where  we  shall 
be  likely  to  make  a great  literary  find  ; and  it 


300 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


should  be  searched  before  the  great  day  when  the 
destiny  of  the  Ottomans  is  completed,  and  Con- 
stantinople once  more  sinks  down,  a mass  of  blood- 
stained ruins,  fired  by  its  possessors  before  they 
commence  their  final  retreat  to  the  desert  from 
which,  in  the  mysterious  providence  of  God,  they 
were  suffered  to  emerge,  in  order  to  destroy  the 
Eastern  half  of  the  civilized  world.  The  only  other 
chance  is  in  the  Shereefal  Palace  at  Morocco,  and 
it  is  uncertain  if  a library  exists  there.  Sir  John 
Hay  Drummond  says  it  does  not ; and  although  he 
would  be  easily  deceived  on  such  a point,  and 
though  the  Cordovan  manuscripts  ought  to  be 
there,  and  though  Mahommedans  never  destroy 
writing,  still  it  is  possible  that  for  once  he  has 
been  told  the  truth. 


The  Arabs  of  the  Desert 


LANCING  through  a new  volume  of  poems 


which  the  author  rather  absurdly  calls  The 
Love  Sonnets  of  Proteus , we  came  upon  this  very 
fine  and  suggestive  address  to  the  Bedouins — 

Children  of  Shem  ! Firstborn  of  Noah’s  race, 

But  still  forever  children ; at  the  door 
Of  Eden  found,  unconscious  of  disgrace, 

And  loitering  on  while  all  are  gone  before ; 

Too  proud  to  dig ; too  careless  to  be  poor ; 

Taking  the  gifts  of  God  in  thanklessness, 

Not  rendering  aught,  nor  supplicating  more, 

Nor  arguing  with  Him  when  He  hides  His  face. 

Yours  is  the  rain  and  sunshine,  and  the  way 
Of  an  old  wisdom  by  our  world  forgot, 

The  courage  of  a day  which  knew  not  death. 

Well  may  we  sons  of  Japhet  in  dismay 
Pause  in  our  vain  mad  fight  for  life  and  breath, 
Beholding  you.  I bow  and  reason  not. 

The  “ many-charactered  ” poet  bears  one  character 
among  others,  we  believe,  which  specially  entitles 
him  to  judge  of  Arabs,  and  certainly  in  this  sonnet 
he  has  touched  with  a ringing  spear  the  central 
peculiarity  of  the  Bedouin  position.  There  is  no 
puzzle  in  the  world,  either  to  the  ethnologist  or  the 


301 


302 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


psychologist,  quite  equal  to  the  Arab,  whether  he 
dwells  in  a tent,  half- nomad,  half- robber,  or  abides 
in  a city  of  Nejd  or  South  Arabia,  the  oldest,  most 
tranquil  and  proudest  of  republicans.  Why  is  he, 
of  all  men  in  the  world,  the  one  who  changes  so 
little,  that  the  person  who,  of  all  mankind,  most 
resembles  Sheikh  Abraham  in  ways  and  habits  and 
bearing,  and,  as  the  best  observers  say,  in  habit 
of  thought,  is  his  collateral  kinsman,  ninety  genera- 
tions removed,  a Sheikh  of  Syria  or  Nejd  ? What 
induces  the  Arab  to  seclude  himself  in  a dreary 
peninsula,  in  poverty  such  as  no  European  con- 
ceives, and  there  live  the  life  of  a remote  antiquity ; 
a life  without  object,  or  hope,  or  fear ; a life  so 
persistent  that  a thousand  years  hence,  if  Europe 
does  not  conquer  him,  the  Arab  will  be  as  to-day  ? 
It  is  not  his  race,  for  the  Jew  is  as  purely  Arab 
as  himself,  sprung  from  the  same  ancestor  as  him- 
self, and,  like  himself,  has  never  mixed  his  blood. 
And  yet  the  Jew  has  changed.  The  least  receptive 
of  mankind  has  become  the  most  receptive — so 
receptive,  that  he  is  more  German,  more  French, 
more  Italian  than  Italian,  German,  or  Frenchman  ; 
the  most  isolated  seeks  cities  by  choice,  preferring 
Brighton  infinitely  to  the  desert  ; the  purely  agricul- 
tural people  have  grown  into  money-changers,  and 
the  most  religious  even  of  Asiatics  have  become, 
with  magnificent  individual  exceptions,  utterly 
earthy.  The  Arab  who  wanders  has  changed 
altogether,  while  the  Arab  who  remains  is  as  he 


THE  ARABS  OF  THE  DESERT 


3°3 


was  in  the  days  of  Jethro,  even  his  new  creed — for 
Mahommedanism  is  parvenu  before  the  Arab — being 
rather  an  expression  of  himself  than  an  influence 
modifying  his  mind.  Christianity  changed  the 
Norseman,  but  the  Arab  was  Mahommedan  before 
Mahommed. 

What  has  made  the  latter  so  unchangeable  ? It 
is  not  any  defect  of  intellect,  or  want  of  force  of 
character.  All  who  have  studied  the  Arabs  in  their 
tents  or  their  secluded  cities  attribute  to  them  the 
old  qualities — the  instinct  for  poetry  and  romance, 
and,  so  to  speak,  literature ; a command  of  their 
magnificent  tongue,  such  as  no  uncultivated  Euro- 
pean has  of  his  own  language  ; a separate  energy  ; 
a special  capacity  for  comprehending  argument,  and 
even  for  managing  affairs.  As  soldier,  the  Arab 
is  first  in  Asia,  though,  from  his  excessive  individu- 
ality, he  is  beaten  in  the  aggregate  by  an  inferior 
people  like  the  Turks — “ mud  bricks,”  as  he  himself 
says,  “ being  better  for  building  than  diamonds.” 
The  Arab  who  wanders  forth  as  soldier,  as  states- 
man, as  trader,  or,  curiously  enough,  as  sailor, 
almost  invariably  succeeds ; and  if  the  English 
quitted  India,  it  is  a question  whether  a Sikh,  a 
Mahratta,  or  an  Arab  would  rebuild  the  throne  of 
the  Great  Mogul.  It  is  not  energy  that  is  wanting 
to  him.  His  forefathers  conquered  the  world,  and, 
unarmoured,  defeated  even  the  armoured  Barbarians 
who  lived  only  for  battle,  founded  three  empires  at 
least,  and  did  not  retreat  after  centuries  ol  contest 


3°4 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


before  the  Crusaders,  the  picked  warrior  emigrants 
of  a dozen  Christian  lands.  All  the  men  of  iron  of 
Europe  failed  to  tear  Jerusalem  from  the  Arab. 
To  this  day  the  Arab  intriguer  rises  most  swiftly  at 
Constantinople,  the  Arab  trader  penetrates  furthest 
into  Africa,  the  Arab  missionary  in  Bengal,  in 
Central  Asia,  in  the  furthest  recesses  of  Central  and 
Western  Africa,  makes  the  most  numerous  and  the 
most  faithful  converts.  The  enervated  Hindoo  of 
Dacca,  the  dissolute  pagan  of  the  Gold  Coast, 
becomes,  when  under  the  *Vrab  spell,  the  dangerous 
Ferazee  or  the  warlike  Houssa.  No  one  who 
knows  the  Arab  doubts  his  enterprise,  and  yet  he 
lives  on  in  the  Syrian  desert,  or  in  his  vast,  secluded 
peninsula — Arabia  is  as  large  as  India,  or  Europe 
west  of  the  Vistula — unchanged,  seeking  no  advance, 
complaining  of  no  suffering,  living  his  life,  such  as  it 
is,  straight  on,  and  accepting  death  as  a destiny 
neither  to  be  sought  nor  feared.  As  it  was,  is  now, 
and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end — that  is  his 
conception  of  human  life.  Time  is  nothing  to  the 
Arab  ; progress  has  no  attraction  for  his  mind  ; 
wealth,  though  when  abroad  he  seeks  it  zealously, 
has  no  charm  to  tempt  him  thither.  Poverty  is 
nothing  to  him,  for  the  man  who  is  contented  with 
his  skin  can  never  be  poor.  Buckle  might  say  it 
was  his  geographical  position,  but  that  did  not 
prevent  him  from  conquering  half  the  Roman  world. 
It  is  his  creed  ? In  what  does  his  creed  differ  from 
that  of  the  Jew,  except  in  certain  precepts  which 


THE  ARABS  OF  THE  DESERT 


3°5 


should  send  the  Arab  forth  to  conquer,  not  seclude 
him  in  the  islands  of  the  desert  ? It  is  his  poverty  ? 
About  all  other  men  we  say,  and  say  truly,  that 
poverty  is  a stimulus  to  advance,  that  clans  of  brave 
men  able  to  fight  will  not  remain  poor.  It  is  his 
individualism  ? That  is  but  pushing  the  question  a 
step  backwards,  for  what  is  it  that  makes  the  Arab, 
who  abroad  founded  Bagdad  and  Granada,  and  who 
at  home  constructs  petty  States  as  truly  Republican 
as  Uri,  unable  to  found  a kingdom  or  a society 
which  shall  advance  men  to  the  “civilized  ” Oriental 
level  ? What  gives  the  Arab  alone,  even  among 
Asiatics,  that  perfection  of  mental  content  which 
asks  nothing  even  from  God,  and  is  so  full,  as 
“ Proteus  ” says,  of  “ the  courage  of  a day  which 
knew  not  death  ” ? 

We  suppose  the  secret  must  lie,  like  the  secret  of 
the  Irish  peasant’s  homesickness,  in  some  charm 
which  the  life  he  leads,  with  its  exemption  from 
wants,  and  from  changes,  and  from  uncertainties, 
has  for  him  ; but  that  is  certainly  a strange  lesson 
for  the  breathless  race  of  Japhet.  The  most  quali- 
fied of  the  races  of  Asia,  having  conquered  a world 
and  its  wealth,  and  built  cities  and  devised  creeds, 
and  composed  a literature,  shrinks  back  contentedly 
to  live  a changeless  life  of  dreary  poverty,  in  the 
one  section  of  the  world  which  to  the  European 
is  utterly  repellant.  The  Arabs  do  not  believe  one 
word  of  all  that  Mr.  Bright  gives  to  the  world  as 
solidly  sensible  advice,  and  they  are  content,  and 


x 


3°6 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


among  their  rivals  noble.  They  despise  industry, 
put  wealth  by  as  meaningless,  keep  the  tradition  of 
the  past  as  a possession,  and,  without  decay  as  with- 
out progress,  live  on  for  ever,  as  they  were  in  ages 
of  which  history  tells  us  nothing.  What  explanation 
of  them  has  the  Comtist,  with  his  dream  of  perfected 
humanity,  to  offer  ? or  where  is  his  proof  that  the 
Parisian,  with  all  his  modern  vigour  and  activity  of 
brain,  and  mastery  over  all  the  secrets  of  Nature 
which  conduce  to  comfort  or  to  the  diffusion  of 
intelligence,  will  survive  the  Arab,  who  was  before 
the  Pharaohs  in  all  essentials  what  he  is  now  ? 
Durability,  at  all  events,  is  not  lacking  to  the  race 
which,  of  all  others,  is  furthest  from  the  modern 
ideal.  May  it  not  just  be  possible  that  the  races 
which  halt  and  wait,  as  calmly  indifferent  to  the 
strife  outside  as  if  their  habitats  were  planets,  may 
conserve  energy  more  than  the  races  which  advance, 
and  in  advancing  must  expend  force  of  some  kind  ? 
That  it  is  force  perpetually  renewed  by  the  expendi- 
ture may  be  true  ; but  also  it  may  not,  for  the  Greek 
has  not  reproduced  Phidias,  or  /Eschylus,  or  Archi- 
medes, nor  do  we  find  in  Scandinavia  the  energy 
which  once  threatened  and  repeopled  so  much  of 
the  world.  Suppose  Shem  lasts  and  not  Japhet, 
that  Mecca  survives  Manchester,  that  when  Europe 
is  a continent  of  ruins,  the  Arab  shall  still  dwell 
in  the  desert,  “ too  proud  to  dig,  too  careless  to  be 
poor,”  “ not  rendering  aught  or  supplicating  more,” 
but  living  on  like  the  Pyramids,  whose  foundations 


THE  ARABS  OF  THE  DESERT 


3°7 


he  saw  laid.  It  seems  impossible  to  Mr.  G.  O.  A. 
Head,  with  his  bottled  electric  force,  carried  about 
in  a valise,  but  the  Arab  stood  at  the  gates  of  On 
and  saw  the  “ magicians  ” and  their  feats,  and  stood 
below  the  walls  of  Constantinople  and  saw  the 
Byzantine  pour  out  his  liquid  fire,  and  despised  both 
Egypt  and  Rome,  and  went  back  to  the  herbless 
land ; and  he  lives  on  still,  not  advanced,  not 
degenerate,  the  ablest  though  the  most  useless  of 
his  kind.  Birmingham  is  great,  but  it  has  not  yet 
discovered  every  truth  about  the  destiny  of  Man  ; 
and  there  are  fractions  of  humankind  whose  govern- 
ing impulses  Western  Europe  as  little  comprehends 
as  it  foresees  the  future.  Imagine  a clan  wjiich 
prefers  sand  to  mould,  poverty  to  labour,  solitary 
reflection  to  the  busy  hubbub  of  the  mart,  which 
will  not  earn  enough  to  clothe  itself,  never  invented 
so  much  as  a lucifer  match,  and  would  consider 
newspaper-reading  a disgraceful  waste  of  time.  Is 
it  not  horrible,  that  such  a race  should  be  ? more 
horrible,  that  it  should  survive  all  others  ? most 
horrible  of  all,  that  it  should  produce,  among  other 
trifles,  the  Psalms  and  the  Gospels,  the  Koran  and 
the  epic  of  Antar  ? 


Asiatic  Patriotism 


WE  know  of  no  subject  upon  which  the  opinion 
of  experts  in  Asiatic  affairs  is  so  hopelessly 
divided  as  that  of  Oriental  Patriotism.  A great 
number  of  the  keenest  of  them,  and  especially  of 
the  men  whose  experience  is  entitled  to  respect,  say 
that  such  a feeling  as  patriotism  does  not  exist  in 
any  Asiatic.  He  can  and  will  die  for  his  creed,  or 
for  his  tribe,  or  caste,  or  for  his  dynasty  ; but  of 
patriotism  he  has  no  conception.  He  very  rarely 
or  never  has  a word  in  his  language  to  express  the 
virtue,  his  public  opinion  does  not  require  it  as  a 
condition  of  political  life,  and  under  temptation  he 
never  finds  in  it  any  source  of  strength.  An  Asiatic, 
such  observers  say,  can  be  very  loyal  to  a ruler,  or 
to  an  ally,  or  to  an  idea,  but  his  loyalty  to  what  we 
term  his  “ country  ” is  of  the  feeblest  character. 
He  may  speak  of  patriotism  in  words,  especially 
when  talking  to  Europeans;  but  his  impelling 
motive  is  always  either  ambition,  or  pride,  or  fana- 
ticism, and  not,  especially  under  temptation,  love  of 
country.  He  will  sell  his  country  in  order  to  rule  it, 
and  sometimes  for  mere  lucre,  especially  when  he  is 

308 


ASIATIC  PATRIOTISM  309 

out  of  spirits,  and  thinks  Destiny  has  declared 
against  the  Virtues.  Those  observers  who  think 
thus  believe  in  their  own  view  very  firmly,  point  to 
the  case  of  Tej  Singh,  who  sold  victory,  as  General 
Cunningham  reports,  for  ,£220,000,  and  ridicule  the 
notion  that  a man  like  Arabi  Pasha  can  be  governed 
by  anything  like  “Nationalist  ” feeling.  He  may  be, 
they  admit  a Mussulman  fanatic,  or  a devotee  of  the 
Khalifate — which  is  not  quite  the  same  thing — or 
even  an  “Asiatic,”  that  is,  a man  who  loathes  Euro- 
pean ascendency  ; but  he  cannot  care  enough  for 
Egypt  to  make  Egyptian  interest,  as  he  conceives  it, 
the  guiding-star  of  his  policy, — cannot,  in  fact,  be  in 
any  sense  a patriot. 

We  should  say  that,  on  the  whole,  this  was  the 
more  general  opinion,  especially  among  those  experts 
who  have  come  much  in  contact  with  prominent 
Asiatic  statesmen,  the  men,  that  is,  who  are  not 
Sovereigns,  but  have  risen  either  by  serving  or  by 
opposing  Sovereigns.  At  the  same  time,  a minority 
of  observers,  equally  experienced,  and  we  think,  as 
a rule,  possessed  of  more  sympathy  and  insight, 
though  not  of  greater  force,  utterly  reject  this  view. 
They  say  that  Asiatics  not  only  can  feel,  but  do  feel 
the  sentiment  of  patriotism  as  strongly  as  Euro- 
peans ; that  the  want  of  a word  to  express  the  idea 
is  an  accident,  which,  curiously  enough,  is  repro- 
duced in  England,  where,  though  every  one 
understands  “ love  of  country,”  the  only  single 
word  which  expresses  that  sentiment  is  borrowed 


3xo 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


from  the  French;  and  that  an  Arab,  a native  of 
India,  or  a Chinaman,  when  a good  man,  is  as 
strongly  moved  by  the  idea  of  “ country,”  and  all 
which  it  implies,  as  an  Englishman  or  an  Ameri- 
can. He  is  more  likely  to  be  deficient  in  that  virtue 
than  a European,  as  he  is  more  likely  to  be  deficient 
in  any  other  of  the  active  virtues,  his  whole  nature 
being  feebler,  and,  so  to  speak,  more  feminine  ; yet 
he  not  only  recognizes,  but,  unless  overpowered  by 
strong  temptation,  acts  on  it.  He  very  often,  for 
example,  submits  to  invasion  when  a European 
would  resist,  but  he  never  submits  willingly,  still 
less  permanently.  He  never  adopts  the  invader, 
never  forgets  that  his  own  country  is  separate,  and 
never  ceases  to  hope  that  in  God’s  good  time  the 
invader  will  be  compelled  to  depart,  or,  if  such 
extreme  good-fortune  may  be,  will  be  slaughtered 
out.  As  to  self-sacrifice  for  his  country,  he  fills  up 
the  national  army  readily  enough,  and  this  in  coun- 
tries like  Afghanistan,  which  have  no  conscription  ; 
he  serves  as  a soldier,  say,  in  Turkey,  with  wonder- 
full  self-suppression;  and  he  will,  and  does  constantly, 
risk  his  fortune,  rather  than  give  an  advantage  to 
the  national  enemy.  No  foreign  Government  in  an 
Asiatic  State  is  ever  able  quite  to  trust  the  people, 
while  it  is  a universal  experience  that  if  a rising 
occurs,  the  people  enter  into  a silent  conspiracy  to 
give  it  aid.  They  may  not  rise,  but  the  foreigner 
hears  nothing  of  the  plot  till  it  explodes,  finds  no 
one  to  betray  the  leaders,  and  is  conscious  of  living 


ASIATIC  PATRIOTISM 


31 1 


in  an  atmosphere  of  deadly  hostility.  In  the  excep- 
tional case  of  small  States  separated  by  any  cause 
from  their  neighbours,  like  that  of  the  Afghans, 
the  Burmese,  or  the  Druses,  patriotism  is  a burning 
passion,  to  be  as  fully  relied  on  as  the  same  passion 
in  any  European  country.  Men  who  think  thus 
declare  that  Arabi  Pasha,  though  governed  by 
mixed  motives,  still  does  feel  the  Nationalist  feel- 
ing ; tha^  his  followers,  though  moved  by  many 
emotions,  still  do  seek  the  independence  of  Egypt ; 
and  that  a good  many  of  those  whom  we  consider 
dangerous  fools,  actuated  by  bloodthirsty  race 
hatred,  honestly  believe  that  in  rioting  they  are 
risking  life  in  order  to  be  rid  of  enemies  to  their 
country. 

We  confess  we  agree  with  the  second  party, 
though  it  is  needful  to  make  a reserve.  We  do  not 
believe  that,  as  a rule,  patriotism  is  as  strong  in 
Asia  as  in  Europe.  Its  influence  there  has  been 
surperseded  in  part  by  other  ideas  ; by  the  claims  of 
religion — fervent  Ultramontanes  are,  even  in  Europe, 
seldom  patriots  before  all  things — by  the  feeling  of 
race,  which  is  as  strong  almost  everywhere  in  Asia 
as  in  Ireland;  and  by  the  passion  of  “loyalty”  in 
the  technical  sense,  which  constantly  leads  Asiatics 
to  postpone  everything,  even  independence,  to  the 
interests  of  a dynasty ; but  it  exists  almost  pre- 
cisely in  the  degree  and  form  in  which  it  existed 
among  Europeans  in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  people 
of  an  Asiatic  State  like  their  country,  and  are  proud 


3!2 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  it ; are  prepared  to  do  something,  though  not  very 
much,  in  its  defence ; and  are  passively,  but  implac- 
ably and  permanently,  hostile  to  the  foreigner  who 
invades  it.  They  are  not,  outside  some  portions  of 
Arabia,  Democrats  in  any  sense,  but  they  are 
universally  “ nationalists,”  and  prefer,  distinctly 
prefer,  bad  government  by  themselves  and  through 
themselves,  to  good  government  by  the  foreigner. 
They  may  prefer  one  foreigner  to  another,  as  the 
Bengalees  undoubtedly  prefer  Englishmen  to  Sikhs, 
and  the  Peguans  prefer  them  to  Burmese ; but  if 
they  had  the  choice  they  would  prefer  each  other  to 
anybody  else.  Nobody,  we  suppose,  doubts  this 
about  Armenians,  who,  though  white,  are  recognized 
throughout  the  continent,  from  Shanghai  to  the 
Bosphorus,  as  true  Asiatics,  and  can  go  in  safety 
where  no  European  would  be  spared;  or  about  Arabs, 
Afghans,  or  about  Chinese ; and  it  is  true  of  far 
feebler  races.  There  is  not  a Bengalee  who  is  not 
proud  of  the  old  glories  of  Gour,  or  gratified  when  a 
European  acknowledges  the  intellectual  capacity  of 
his  countrymen,  or  sad  when  he  admits  that  his 
desk — i.e.  patria , as  well  as  land — has  constantly 
been  conquered.  There  was  not  an  Indian  on  the 
vast  continent  who  did  not  consider  the  Sepoys 
Nationalists,  and  did  not,  even  if  he  dreaded  their 
success,  feel  proud  of  their  few  victories.  An  old 
Hindoo  scholar,  definitely  and  openly  on  the  English 
side,  actually  cried  with  rage  and  pain,  in  the  writer’s 
presence,  over  a report  that  Delhi  was  to  be  razed. 


ASIATIC  PATRIOTISM  313 

He  had  never  seen  Delhi,  but  to  him  it  was  “ our 
beautiful  city,  such  a possession  for  our  country.” 
The  Egyptians  are  not  a strong  people,  but  it  is 
quite  useless  to  tell  an  Egyptian  that  the  Europeans 
bring  him  prosperity  and  light  taxes,  as  useless  as  to 
tell  a true  Irish  Nationalist  the  same  thing  about  the 
English.  He  does  not  trouble  himself  to  deny 
the  facts,  nay,  very  often  believes  them  ; but,  all  the 
same,  he  wants  the  intruders  gone,  if  wealth  and 
comfort  go  with  them.  It  is  true  the  feeling  is  not 
acute,  and  does  not  take  the  European  form.  The 
Asiatic’s  mind  is  full  of  bewildering  cross-lights,  of 
feelings  about  his  creed,  and  his  history,  and  his 
hates,  and  his  personal  interests,  which,  if  they  con- 
flict with  patriotism,  often  prove  the  stronger ; but 
to  say  that  is  to  say  he  is  morally  weak  or  intellectu- 
ally crotchetty,  not  to  say  he  is  unpatriotic.  He 
knows  what  he  is  selling  when  he  sells  his  country 
well  enough,  and  if  anybody  else  sells  it  will  pour 
mental  vitriol  on  his  head.  A “ traitor,”  in  the 
English  sense,  has  not  in  Asia  a pleasant  time  of  it 
with  posterity.  Patriotism  with  him  is  not  an  over- 
mastering idea.  He  has  too  many  notions  about 
destiny,  and  about  the  sanctity  of  power  as  granted 
by  God,  and  about  the  necessity  of  obedience  when 
extorted  by  adequate  force,  to  be  a Washington,  or 
anything  like  a Washington  ; but  his  country  has  his 
sympathies,  nevertheless,  which,  whenever  there  is 
a chance  for  their  display,  have  to  be  reckoned  with 
by  politicians.  The  Egyptians  have  always  obeyed 


3M 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


foreigners,  and,  if  the  English  conquered  them, 
would  be  very  fair  subjects  ; but  we  have  no  doubt 
that  the  majority  of  them,  though  quiescent,  would 
much  rather  that  Egyptians  succeeded  in  this 
struggle  than  that  Europe  did,  and  a little  rather 
that  Egyptians  conquered  than  that  Turks  did. 
The  Turk  is  a foreigner,  but  he  is  a Mussulman  and 
an  Asiatic.  It  may  be  said  that  the  emotion  is  only 
one  of  hate,  and,  indeed,  this  is  almost  always  said 
by  the  makers  of  telegrams,  but  it  is  not  strictly  true. 
The  hatred  exists,  like  the  hatred  for  England  in 
Ireland,  but  it  is  in  great  part  the  result  of  a feeling 
indistinguishable,  at  all  events,  from  patriotism,  a 
feeling  compounded  of  national  pride,  national 
exclusiveness,  and  desire  for  national  independence. 
If  the  Egyptian  were  a fighting  man,  like  the 
Afghan,  we  should  all  understand  him,  but  the  possi- 
bility of  sentiments  or  virtues  in  a passive  state  is 
always  more  or  less  incredible  to  the  Englishman. 
Such  sentiments  exist,  nevertheless,  as  the  English- 
man would  remember,  if  he  ever  bethought  himself 
that  he  himself  holds  it  part  of  his  duty  to  turn  his 
cheek  to  the  smiter— honestly  and  sincerely  holds 
it  — though,  when  the  hour  comes,  he  turns  his 
fist,  instead. 


“ Fanaticism  ” in  the  East 


THE  English  middle-class  of  to-day  is  singu- 
larly free  from  Fanaticism.  It  has  its  little 
enthusiasms,  no  doubt,  and  can  grow  eager  for  or 
against  a cause  ; but  of  true  fanaticism,  of  a liability 
to  religious  emotion  such  as  carries  its  subjects 
completely  out  of  themselves,  away  from  facts,  and 
beyond  laws,  it  seldom  displays  a sign.  The 
mind  of  the  class  is  marked  by  steady  and  rather 
cold,  though  often  very  ignorant,  judgement,  and 
a certain  repugnance  for  religious  emotions  strong 
enough  to  lead  to  immediate  action.  It  is  for  this 
reason,  we  suppose,  that  English  people  just  now 
are  so  inclined  to  regard  fanaticism  outside  England, 
and  especially  in  the  East,  as  so  great  and  pervad- 
ing a force, — as  the  explanation  of  every  unaccount- 
able action,  and  the  motive  of  every  unusual  display 
of  activity.  It  is  an  impulse  they  do  not  feel 
themselves,  and  which  rather  puzzles  them,  and 
they,  therefore,  set  down  to  its  influence  every 
phenomenon  they  do  not  quite  comprehend  or  very 
greatly  dislike.  They  find  that  slatternly  mode  of 
thinking  so  convenient  that  they  are  gradually 
making  of  fanaticism  the  motive-power  of  the  East, 

815 


316 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


and  using  it  as  if  one  word  could  bear  half-a-dozen 
separate  meanings.  Sometimes  fanaticism  is  the 
equivalent  of  religious  enthusiasm,  sometimes  of 
mere  fury,  sometimes  of  hatred,  very  often  of 
lunacy,  now  and  again  of  mere  Orientalism,  and 
constantly  of  physical  courage.  All  Mussulmans  in 
particular  are  assumed  to  have  fanaticism,  as  if  it 
were  some  separate  mental  peculiarity  belonging 
to  the  Mahommedan  faith,  which  accounted  for 
everything,  and  especially  for  any  very  marked 
impulse.  When  Californians  attack  Chinamen,  or 
English  labourers  pommel  Irishmen,  or  Marseillais 
artisans  wound  Italians,  Englishmen  explain  their 
conduct  by  race  hatred,  or  trade  jealousy,  or  political 
feeling  ; but  when  Arabs  in  Alexandria  kill  Euro- 
peans, they  attribute  the  outburst  to  “ fanaticism.” 
The  Turks  are  said  to  be  fanatics  if  they  evince 
any  sympathy  with  Arabi,  or  any  wish  that  their 
own  fellow-subjects  should  defeat  intrusive  strangers 
from  the  West.  When  any  of  Arabi’s  soldiers  show 
decent  courage,  they  are  described  as  “ fanatics,” 
and  the  Times  positively  asserts  that  Arabi’s  suc- 
cess or  defeat  depends  upon  that  unknown  quantity, 
the  fanaticism  he  inspires  among  his  soldiers. 
Scores  of  correspondents  assert  every  day  that 
Europe  is  in  danger,  because  Asia  has  once  more 
grown  “fanatic”;  and  France  in  particular  is 
bidden  to  beware  of  that  burst  of  fanaticism  which 
may  within  the  next  few  months  deprive  her  of  her 
ascendency  in  North  Africa. 


“ FANATICISM " IN  THE  EAST 


3*7 


Well,  there  is  fanaticism  in  the  East,  more 
especially  among  Mussulmans.  Every  Eastern 
creed,  Christianity  included,  with  the  solitary  excep- 
tion of  Confucianism,  puts  the  interest  of  the  next 
world  above  the  interest  of  this,  and  calls  upon  its 
devotees  to  obey  the  Divine  law,  even  when  such 
obedience  is  unsafe,  or  contrary  to  the  dictates  of 
common-sense.  Among  so  many  scores  of  millions 
w'ho  are  thus  exhorted,  it  would  be  strange  if  there 
were  not  a few  who  obeyed  ; and,  as  a matter  of 
fact,  a great  many  are  fairly  obedient.  Christians 
who  are  so  are  said  to  be  “ pious,”  or  devoted,  or 
at  least  persons  of  right  mind  ; and  so  whenever, 
by  a rare  chance,  they  happen  to  be  noticed, 
Hindoos  and  Buddhists  also  are.  The  virtues  of 
those  three  creeds  tend  to  self-abnegation,  and 
therefore,  except  under  most  unusual  circumstances, 
as  when  Sepoys  in  the  Red  Sea,  in  their  zeal  for 
ceremonial  purity,  throw  awray  a bucket  of  water 
because  an  officer  has  drunk  a spoonful  of  it,  they 
excite  no  hostility.  The  virtues  of  Mahommedans 
are,  however,  of  a different  kind.  Every  Mussul- 
man is  taught,  directly  or  implicitly,  that  he  ought 
to  fight  for  his  faith,  that  he  should  assert  himself 
as  one  of  a favoured  people,  and  that  it  is  wrong 
for  him  to  endure,  if  he  can  help  it,  a direct  and 
visible  assertion  of  Infidel  superiority.  Of  the 
millions  so  taught,  a proportion  believe  the  teach- 
ing, and  a few  believe  it  so  strongly  that  they  will 
rather  die  than  allow  the  Infidel  to  get  above  them 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


3i8 


in  any  visible  way.  There  is,  therefore,  in  Mussul- 
man countries  religious  enthusiasm,  sometimes  rising 
to  fanaticism,  that  is,  breaking  loose  from  the  con- 
trol of  the  judgement ; and,  of  course,  when  dogma 
is  very  much  preached  or  events  bring  the  obliga- 
tions of  their  creed  clearly  home  to  the  children  of 
Islam,  there  is  a good  deal  of  it.  But  there  is 
much  less  in  quantity,  and  what  there  is,  is  much 
less  energetic  in  kind,  than  Europeans  seem  at  this 
anxious  moment  inclined  to  believe.  The  majority 
of  Orientals  are  no  more  religious  than  the  majority 
of  Europeans.  They  believe  the  teaching  of  the 
Koran  as  Neapolitans  believe  the  teaching  of  their 
priests,  or  as  Londoners  believe  the  precepts  of  the 
Bible,  but  they  do  not  act  on  it.  All  Mussulmans 
accept  the  idea  that  if  they  perish  in  battle  with 
the  Infidel,  they  go  to  heaven,  just  as  all  Christians 
accept  the  idea  that  they  ought  to  forgive  their 
enemies,  and  love  those  who  despitefully  use  them  ; 
but  very  few  act  on  their  belief,  in  either  case.  We 
question  if  the  proportion  of  true  fanatics  among 
Mahommedans — that  is,  of  men  who  die  fighting 
a hopeless  battle  for  the  faith — is  much  greater  than 
that  of  true  upholders  of  the  doctrine  of  non-resist- 
ance among  ourselves.  If  it  were — if,  that  is,  the 
majority  of  Mussulmans  were  ready  to  die  on  the 
field  as  the  readiest  path  to  heaven — we  should 
never  beat  a Mussulman  army  without  destroying 
it.  We  do  beat  Mussulman  armies,  and  we  do  not 
destroy  them,  or  any  appreciable  proportion  of 


“ FANATICISM ” IN  THE  EAST 


3i9 


them.  They  never  die  in  masses  voluntarily,  even 
when,  as  in  the  first  war  in  Malacca,  the  Jehad  or 
religious  war  has  been  properly  proclaimed.  In 
every  Mussulman  army  there  are  a few  men  of 
convinced  minds,  “who  think  through  Unbelievers’ 
blood  lies  the  directest  path  a few  more  who  are 
exceptionally  brave,  and  profess  readiness  to  die 
for  the  faith  as  an  honourable  way  of  parading  that 
fact  ; and  a few  more  who  are  aware  that  hemp, 
eaten  at  the  proper  time,  will  give  them  all  the 
advantages  of  courage.  These  men  are  very  for- 
midable for  a few  minutes  in  a charge,  for  they  will 
go  on,  and  men  who  will  go  on  with  a rush  are 
difficult  to  kill  out ; but  still,  they  are  not  more 
dangerous  than  any  other  soldiers  who  can  be  urged 
forward  against  odds.  What  is  to  make  them  so  ? 
Fanaticism  is  not  a rabies,  so  that  the  bite  of 
fanatics  should  be  poisonous.  As  for  the  majority, 
they  believe  it  right  to  fight,  and  salvation  to  be 
killed  in  fighting  ; but  the  belief  is  not  held  in  a 
way  which  elevates  them  above  either  selfishness 
or  fear,  or  even  indisposition  for  severe  exertion. 
It  is  held  as  Englishmen  hold  that  doctrine  about 
turning  the  other  cheek.  If  Mussulmans  do  not 
see  the  road  to  victory,  they  “ run  away,”  or 
“retreat,”  or  “retire  fighting,”  like  other  soldiers, 
according  to  their  courage  or  discipline,  or  their 
confidence  in  their  commanders.  Their  fanaticism, 
such  as  it  is,  is  not  an  overmastering  impulse,  but 
only  a passive  belief,  and  but  little  helpful  when  the 


320 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


hour  of  danger  arrives.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
does  it  lead  them,  as  so  many  Europeans  believe, 
to  massacre.  Mahommedanism  does  not  order,  or 
indeed  justify  massacre,  unless  the  Infidels  resist. 
Even  at  Delhi,  the  Mahommedan  Doctors  warned 
the  Emperor  in  1857  that  in  sanctioning  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  helpless,  he  was  breaking  the  law  and 
bringing  down  the  vengeance  of  Heaven ; and  the 
Alexandria  case  was  infinitely  worse  than  that,  was, 
in  fact,  a massacre  of  guests.  Massacre  in  the  East 
does  not  proceed  from  fanaticism,  but  from  the 
cause  which  recently  induced  French  artisans  to 
attack  Italian  artisans, — a boiling  dislike  of  strangers 
who  speak  another  tongue,  act  on  other  rules,  and 
are  horribly  in  the  way.  Of  course,  the  hatred  of 
the  Asiatic  for  the  European  is  much  more  bitter 
than  anything  we  find  in  Europe,  though  the 
Russian  hatred  for  the  Jew  is  akin  to  it ; because 
the  European  in  Asia,  unlike  any  other  stranger  in 
the  world,  takes  the  top  place,  and  tries  to  drive 
the  majority  his  way.  Let  groups  of  Chinamen 
come  here,  and  take  all  good  appointments,  and 
tax  us,  and  tell  us  that  we  are  barbarians,  and  try 
to  compel  us  to  wear  pigtails  and  eat  puppies,  and 
we  venture  to  say  their  paganism  will  not  have 
much  to  do  with  the  treatment  they  will  receive. 
If  the  creed  had  anything  to  do  with  the  matter, 
Arabi’s  followers  would  kill  out  both  Armenians 
and  Copts ; whereas  the  former  are  only  killed 
casually,  when  wearing  too  European  a dress,  and 
the  latter  are  not  killed  at  all. 


“ FANATICISM ” IN  THE  EAST 


321 


There  are  plenty  of  motives  for  murder  in  the 
East,  without  imagining  a non-existent  fanaticism  ; 
which,  again,  is  not  the  irrestrainable  and,  as  it 
were,  explosive  quality  it  is  popularly  believed  to 
be.  It  yields  readily  to  law.  The  Russians  have 
had  little  trouble  with  their  Mussulman  subjects, 
nor  have  we.  A report  arrives  now  and  then  that 
a Mussulman  “fanatic”  on  the  Indian  frontier  has 
murdered  an  officer,  but  it  will  generally  be  found 
either  that  he  belonged  to  a tribe  that  had  been 
punished,  or  that  he  found  himself  refused  justice 
in  some  suit ; that,  in  short,  he  is  very  like  an  Irish 
agrarian  assassin,  only  not  so  cruel.  Up  to  1852, 
there  used  to  be  a fanatic  outbreak  every  year  in 
Lucknow,  in  the  great  street,  the  two  sects  of 
Mahommedans  killing  and  wounding  one  another 
freely.  It  was  supposed  impossible  to  stop  this, 
but  in  that  year,  Captain  Hayes,  the  Acting  Resi- 
dent, thought  the  slaughter  had  better  end,  and 
obtained  permission  to  plant  two  pieces  of  cannon 
at  the  end  of  the  street,  and  to  proclaim  that,  if 
a sword  were  drawn,  he  should  open  fire.  Every- 
body knew  he  would  do  it,  the  street  was  crammed, 
and  the  quiet  harmony  of  the  two  sects  was 
heavenly.  Fanaticism,  the  dreaded  spiritual  power, 
yielded  instantly  to  the  fear  of  death,  just  as  it  does 
upon  the  battle-field. 

We  have  often  been  asked  how  far  Mussulman 
“fanatics,”  or  indeed  any  pious  Mussulmans,  expect 
victory  from  the  interposition  of  Heaven,  as  Crom- 

Y 


322 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


well’s  Ironsides,  for  example,  expected  it.  We 
cannot  answer  the  question,  and  never  met  any 
one  who  could.  It  is  almost  inconceivable  that 
good  Mussulmans  should  not  expect  Divine  help, 
and  equally  inconceivable  that  if  they  did  expect  it, 
they  should  not  advance  to  battle  with  more  confi- 
dence, and  should  not  persist  in  fighting  a little 
longer.  They  certainly  expect  the  ultimate  ascend- 
ency, though  not,  we  see  reason  to  think,  the 
universal  acceptance  of  Mahommedanism,  and  they 
must  see  in  each  battle  a step  to  that  ascendency. 
They  do  not,  however,  if  they  have  any  such  expec- 
tation, feel  it  strongly  ; they  never  fight,  if  they  can 
help  it,  without  advantage  in  numbers,  and  their 
Doctors  maintain  that  to  declare  war  without 
reasonable  hope  of  success  is  positively  irreligious. 
There  is  not  much  “ fanaticism  ” in  that  view,  nor 
in  any  other  which  the  majority  of  Mussulmans 
take  of  events  around  them.  We  should  say  that 
while  Mussulman  fanatics  undoubtedly  exist,  fana- 
ticism was  as  little  a motive  force  in  the  East  as  it  is 
in  most  Christian  countries,  and  distinctly  less  so 
than  it  is  among  the  peasantry  of  Russia. 


Will  Conquest  Vivify  Asia  ? 

SPEECHES  delivered  in  India  are  rarely  re- 
ported here,  and  still  more  rarely  reported 
well ; but  we  have  before  us  the  textual  version 
of  one  of  rather  unusual  interest.  It  is  an  address 
to  the  University  of  Madras,  and  contains  the 
opinions  which  the  Governor,  Mr.  Grant  Duff,1  now 
near  the  end  of  his  term  of  office,  has  formed  of 
the  position  of  the  higher,  or,  rather,  the  better 
educated,  classes  in  Southern  India.  Local  opinion 
differs  a little  as  to  Mr.  Grant  Duffs  success  as 
a Governor,  one  side  pointing  to  his  promptitude 
in  executive  work,  especially  in  organizing  the 
expedition  to  Mandelay,  and  another  side  hinting 
that  he  reflects  too  much,  and  allows  questions  of 
importance  to  stand  over  far  too  long.  That 
practice,  however,  is  traditional  in  Madras,  where 
the  Government  has  been  distinguished  for  a century 
by  a patience  worthy  of  the  Roman  Curia,  and 
by  a certain  inability  to  believe  in  forcing  progress 
which  drives  the  more  sanguine  rulers  of  Bengal 
half-crazy  with  impatience.  Be  that  as  it  may,  Mr. 

1 Now  Sir  Mountstuart  Grant  Duff. 


393 


324 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Grant  Duff’s  power  of  reflection,  and  of  almost 
judicial  comment  on  affairs,  are  well  known  to  us 
all,  and  his  summary  of  one  side  of  the  situation 
is  most  serious.  He  finds  that  the  higher  education 
which  is  imparted  and  tested  in  the  Madras  Uni- 
versity remains  in  a singular  degree  sterile.  The 
graduates,  of  many  of  whom  he  speaks  with  all 
respect,  do  nothing  with  their  acquirements ; or, 
rather,  they  do  only  two  things, — they  talk  Radical 
politics,  and  they  seek  Government  appointments, 
which  accordingly  they  eagerly  desire  both  to 
multiply  and  to  throw  open  to  themselves.  That 
is  a futile  ambition  for  an  entire  class  to  entertain, 
for,  as  the  Governor  tells  them,  if  every  remaining 
appointment  were  placed  in  their  hands — they  are 
very  few,  and  “a  few  must  belong  to  Europeans, 
not  in  virtue  of  their  being  the  descendants  of 
conquerors,  but  in  virtue  of  that  education  of  ages 
which  has  made  the  Aryan  of  the  West  what  he 
is  ” — it  would  be  nothing  among  so  many  ; but,  as 
yet,  it  is  their  only  one.  The  beautiful  Presidency, 
which  in  scenery  is  to  Northern  India  what  Switzer- 
land is  to  Prussia,  one- third  larger  than  Italy,  with 
its  90,000  artificial  lakes,  called  locally  by  the  name 
of  “ tanks,”  a word  productive  of  endless  misappre- 
hension, is  languishing  for  engineers,  and  especially 
hydraulic  engineers ; but  the  graduates  do  not 
become  engineers,  though  the  whole  history  of 
Southern  India  shows  that  they  possess  not  only 
engineering  capacity,  but  distinct  originality  for 


WILL  CONQUEST  VIVIFY  ASIA  f 


325 


such  undertakings.  The  population  gives  an  eager 
welcome  to  doctors ; but  though  hundreds  are 
needed,  especially  of  the  class  we  used  to  call 
apothecaries,  only  three  graduates  in  all  Southern 
India  have  adopted  that  profession.  Agriculture 
promises  any  reward  to  native  agriculturists  of  skill; 
but  with  an  exception  here  and  there,  no  educated 
man  devotes  himself  to  improving  the  productive- 
ness of  the  soil.  The  want  of  Madras  is  wealth, 
there  is  plenty  of  room  for  manufacturers,  and  the 
openings  for  internal  commerce  are  endless  ; but 
it  is  not  to  commerce  or  to  manufactures  that  the 
educated  betake  themselves.  While  Bengal  and 
Bombay  are  alive  with  plantations  and  factories, 
Madras  remains  the  poorest  Presidency.  Nor  do 
they  devote  themselves  to  social  development,  for 
which  South  India  offers  an  unequalled  field,  her 
social  systems  being  far  less  stereotyped  than  those 
of  the  North,  and  her  great  Turanian  population 
— nearly  half  the  whole  — offering  entirely  new 
problems  for  solution  ; nor  to  philosophy,  though 
the  Eastern  Aryans  at  least,  if  not  the  Turanians 
also,  are  born  philosophers ; nor  to  studies  like 
philology,  nor  to  art,  though  there  are  arts,  like 
architecture,  for  which  their  genius  is  undoubted  ; 
nor  to  research,  though  such  a field  for  research 
as  Southern  India,  more  especially  in  the  anti- 
quarian direction,  scarcely  exists  in  the  world.  If 
the  British  rulers  wish  to  decipher  old  inscriptions 
in  Madras,  they  are  compelled  to  “ send  thousands 


326 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


and  thousands  of  miles  away  and  hunt  up  some 
scholar  in  the  valley  of  the  Danube.”  The  edu- 
cated, in  fact,  seek  neither  material  wealth  nor  the 
improvement  of  their  knowledge,  nor  philosophical 
culture,  but  only  status  and  pay  in  the  service  of 
the  State.  All  the  work  which  a people  beginning 
to  be  cultivated  would  naturally  do,  and  which  in 
some  half-civilzied  countries  is  done  with  passionate 
zeal,  is  in  Southern  India  left  undone,  and  this 
both  by  its  Aryan  population  and  its  Dravidian 
or  Turanian,  to  whom  the  Governor,  with  perfect 
historical  accuracy,  but  somewhat  grotesque  effect, 
addresses  this  singular  argument : — “ The  constant 
putting  forward  of  Sanskrit  literature,  as  if  it  were 
pre-eminently  Indian,  should  stir  the  national  pride 
of  some  of  you  Tamil,  Telugu,  Canarese.  You 
have  less  to  do  with  Sanskrit  than  we  English  have. 
Ruffianly  Europeans  have  sometimes  been  known 
to  speak  of  natives  of  India  as  ‘ niggers,’  but  they 
did  not,  like  the  proud  speakers,  or  writers,  of 
Sanskrit,  speak  of  the  people  of  the  South  as 
legions  of  monkeys.  It  was  these  Sanskrit  speakers, 
not  Europeans,  who  lumped-up  the  Southern  races 
as  Rakshasas — demons.  It  was  they  who  deli- 
berately grounded  all  social  distinctions  upon  Varna , 
colour.” 

This  picture,  that  of  a population  of  thirty-one 
millions  in  which  the  class  most  eager  to  be  in- 
structed, is  when  instructed  sterile,  is  a painful 
one,  and  will  be  held  by  many  minds  to  justify 


WILL  CONQUEST  VIVIFY  ASIA  7 


327 


those,  of  whom  the  present  writer  was  one,  who, 
a generation  ago,  bestirred  themselves  to  resist 
the  idea  of  Macaulay,  that  culture  should  be  diffused 
in  India  through  English  studies.  They  maintained 
that  true  instruction  would  never  be  gained  by  an 
Oriental  people  through  a Western  language,  that 
education  in  English  would  be  productive  of  nothing 
but  a caste,  who,  like  the  “ scholars  ” of  the  Middle 
Ages,  would  be  content  with  their  own  superiority, 
and  would  be  more  separated  from  the  people 
than  if  they  had  been  left  uneducated ; that,  in 
short,  English  education,  however  far  it  might  be 
pushed,  would  remain  sterile.  They  pressed  for 
the  encouragement  and  development  of  the  indi- 
genous culture,  and  would  have  had  High  Schools 
and  Universities,  in  which  men  should  have  studied, 
first  of  all,  to  perfect  the  languages,  and  literature, 
and  knowledge  of  their  own  land.  They  fought 
hard,  but  they  failed  utterly,  and  we  have  the 
Baboo,  instead  of  the  thoroughly  instructed  Pundit. 
They  probably  did  not  allow  enough  for  the  in- 
fluence of  time,  and  they  certainly  did  not  admire 
enough  the  few  remarkable  men  whom  the  system 
has  produced ; but  so  far,  they  have  been  right, 
and  they  may  be  right  throughout.  English  educa- 
tion in  India  may  remain  sterile  for  all  national 
purposes.  It  is  not  a pleasant  thought,  but  it  is 
an  unavoidable  one,  that  the  conquest  of  the  East 
Aryans  by  the  West  Aryans,  though  it  has  brought 
such  marvellous  blessings  in  the  way  of  peace  and 


328 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


order  and  material  prosperity,  though  it  has  given 
to  millions,  as  Mr.  Grant  Duff  says,  all  the  results 
of  political  evolution  without  the  wearying  struggle 
for  them,  may  have  brought  also  evils  which  over- 
balance, or  almost  overbalance,  all  its  gifts.  Not 
much  is  gained  to  the  world  because  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Empire  Bengalees  increase  like  flies 
on  a windless  day.  It  is  no  time  yet  for  con- 
clusions, for  the  work  of  conquest  has  but  just 
ended,  and  that  of  sowing  seed  has  but  just  begun  ; 
but  that  decay  of  varieties  of  energy,  that  torpor 
of  the  higher  intellectual  life,  that  pause  in  the 
application  of  art  knowledge,  from  architecture 
down  to  metal  work  and  pottery,  which  have  been 
synchronous  with  our  rule  in  India,  these  are  to 
the  philosophic  observer  melancholy  symptoms. 
Why  is  not  the  world  yet  richer  for  an  Indian 
brain  ? There  was  a Roman  peace  once  round  the 
Mediterranean,  under  which  originality  so  died 
away  that  it  is  doubtful  whether,  but  for  the 
barbarian  invasion,  society  would  not  have  stereo- 
typed itself,  and  even  Christianity  have  grown 
fossil  ; and  our  rule,  much  nobler  though  its  motive 
and  its  methods  be,  may  be  accompanied  by  the 
same  decay.  In  the  two  hundred  years  during 
which  Spaniards  have  ruled  in  the  New  World, 
but  one  Indian  name  has  reached  Europe,  and 
Juarez  was  only  a politician.  We  have  only  to 
hope  and  to  persevere ; but  it  is  impossible,  when 
the  results  are  from  time  to  time  summed  up  by 


WILL  CONQUEST  VIVIFY  ASIA  1 


329 


cool  observers  like  the  Governor  of  Madras,  not 
to  feel  a chilling  doubt.  We  think  little  of  the 
political  childishness  of  educated  natives  on  which 
Mr.  Grant  Duff  is  so  serenely  sarcastic,  for  that 
is  a mere  symptom  of  unrest,  possibly  healthy 
unrest ; and  we  utterly  disagree  with  him  in  his 
assertion  that  only  a wealthy  community  can  be 
well  governed,  holding  Switzerland  to  be  better 
governed  than  F ranee  ; but  the  want  of  spontaneous 
effort  in  all  directions,  the  limitation  of  ambition 
to  a salary  from  the  State,  seem  to  us  symptoms 
either  of  intellectual  torpor  or  intellectual  despair. 
We  know  quite  well  the  tendency  of  Asia  to  stereo- 
type herself,  but  we  had  hoped  that  British  dominion 
would  revivify  her ; and  as  yet — except  possibly 
in  the  important  domain  of  law,  a reverence  for 
which  is  slowly  filtering  down — the  signs  are  very 
few.  The  Codes  will,  as  Mr.  Grant  Duff  believes, 
materially  influence  Indian  thought ; but  then,  the 
Codes  were  the  work  not  of  Eastern  Aryans,  but 
of  those  who  conquered  them.  We  want  original 
Indian  work;  and  as  yet  we  have  only  men  who 
will  take  any  post,  provided  that  its  salary  is 
guaranteed  by  the  State  and  its  work  ordered  and 
controlled  regularly  from  above. 


Why  Turkey  Lives 


THE  meeting  of  the  German  Kaiser  and  the 
Sultan  in  Constantinople  on  November  2, 
1889,  was  from  any  point  of  view  a most  picturesque 
event,  but  to  us,  we  must  confess,  the  more  interest- 
ing figure  in  the  unprecedented  interview  is  the 
Asiatic  one.  The  greatness  of  the  European 
monarch  is  too  intelligible.  William  II.  of  Germany 
is  the  armed  man  of  modern  civilization,  strong  in 
the  possession  of  knowledge,  of  scientific  appliances, 
of  an  army  organized  till  it  will  move  on  any 
enemy  at  the  word  of  command  like  an  intelligent 
machine.  The  guest  is  the  concrete  outcome  of  his 
century,  and  that  he  should  be  great  is  no  wonder ; 
what  is  wonderful  is  that  his  host  should  be  great 
too,  that  in  this  age  the  head  of  a Tartar  clan  which 
is  still  only  encamped  in  its  dominions,  himself  a 
man  as  ignorant  as  a child,  and  as  nervously  appre- 
hensive as  a hysterical  woman,  should  still  be  a 
great  potentate,  a Sovereign  in  three  continents, 
absolute  lord  in  the  best  situated  city  of  the  world 
and  in  some  of  the  richest  provinces  of  the  globe, 
more  potent,  in  fact,  through  richer  and  wider  lands 


WHY  TURKEY  LIVES 


33i 


than  the  mighty  Emperor  who  gazed  with  such 
astonishment  on  the  scene.  We  know  why  the 
German  Empire  exists,  but  it  takes  thought  to 
comprehend  why  the  “ Turkish  Empire  ” still 
endures.  The  dominion  of  the  Ottoman  clan, 
which  should  have  been  a mere  passing  pheno- 
menon, like  the  similar  dominion  of  another  Tartar 
clan  in  Russia,  owes  its  continuance,  as  we  read  its 
history,  to  three  causes,  two  of  them  intellectual. 
The  first  is  the  extraordinary,  indeed  the  abso- 
lutely unrivalled  force  displayed  through  ages  by 
the  descendants  of  Othman,  the  Tartar  chief  from 
Khorassan.  The  old  line,  “ An  Amurath,  an 
Amurath  succeeds,”  has  been  substantially  true. 
Sprung  originally  from  a stock  welded  into  iron 
by  the  endless  strife  of  the  great  Asiatic  desert, 
mating  always  with  women  picked  for  some  separate 
charm  either  of  beauty  or  captivation,  the  Sultans, 
with  the  rarest  exceptions,  have  been  personages, 
great  soldiers,  great  statesmen,  or  great  tyrants. 
Mahmoud  the  destroyer  of  the  Janissaries,  who 
only  died  in  1839 — that  is,  while  men  still  middle- 
aged  were  alive — was  the  equal  in  all  but  success 
of  Amurath  I.,  who  organized,  though  he  did  not 
invent,  that  terrible  institution  ; and  even  the  pre- 
sent Sultan,  in  many  ways  so  feeble,  is  no  Romulus 
Augustulus,  no  connoisseur  in  poultry,  but  a timid 
Louis  XI.,  who  overmatches  Russians  and  Greeks 
in  craft,  who  terrifies  men  like  his  Ottoman  Pashas, 
and  who  is  obeyed  with  trembling  by  the  most 


332 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


distant  servant  of  his  throne.  The  terrible  Emir 
of  Afghanistan,  whose  satraps,  while  ruling  pro- 
vinces and  armies,  open  his  letters  “white  in  the 
lips  with  fear,”  is  not  regarded  with  more  slavish 
awe  than  Abdul  Hamid,  the  recluse  who  watches 
always  in  his  palace  against  assassination  or  mutiny. 
We  have  only  to  remember  what  the  Hohenzollerns 
have  been  to  Prussia,  to  understand  what  the  family 
of  Othman,  defended  as  they  have  been  against 
revolution  by  the  Mussulman  belief  that  “when 
Othman  falls  Islam  falls,”  has  been  to  a fight- 
ing clan. 

The  second  cause  of  the  continuance  of  the 
Ottoman  dominion  has  been  less  accidental.  Like 
the  early  Caliphs,  and  indeed  all  able  Mussulman 
dynasties  except  the  Persian,  the  ruling  house  of 
Turkey  has  for  all  these  centuries  maintained 
unbroken  the  principle  that  apart  from  creed, 
ability  is  the  only  qualification  for  the  highest 
service.  Outside  the  Navy,  a Turkish  grandee 
must  be  a Mussulman ; but  that  granted,  there  is 
no  obstacle  of  birth,  or  cultivation,  or  position  stand- 
ing in  any  man’s  path.  Even  slavery  is  no  barrier. 
Over  and  over  again,  a Sultan  apparently  at  the 
end  of  his  resources  has  stooped  among  the  crowd, 
clutched  a soldier,  a slipper-bearer,  a tobacconist,  a 
renegade,  given  him  his  own  limitless  power,  and 
asking  of  him  nothing  but  success,  has  secured  it  in 
full  measure.  Equality  within  the  faith,  which  is  a 
dogma  of  Islam,  and  next  to  its  belief  in  a “ Sultan 


WHY  TURKEY  LIVES 


333 


of  the  sky,”  its  grand  attraction  to  inferior  races, 
has  in  Turkey  been  a reality  as  it  has  been  in  no 
other  Empire  on  earth,  and  has  provided  its 
Sovereigns — who,  be  it  remembered,  fear  no  rival 
unless  he  be  a kinsman,  an  Arab,  or  a “ Prophet  ” — 
with  an  endless  supply  of  the  kind  of  ability  they 
need.  The  history  of  the  Grand  Viziers  of  Turkey, 
were  it  ever  written,  would  be  the  history  of  men 
who  have  risen  by  sheer  force  of  ability, — that  is, 
by  success  in  war  or  by  statesmanship,  or,  in  fewer 
instances,  by  that  art  of  mastering  an  Asiatic 
Sovereign  and  his  seraglio  in  which  fools  do  not 
succeed.  The  Sultans  have  rarely  promoted,  rarely 
even  used,  men  of  their  own  house, — which  is  the 
Persian  dynastic  policy, — have  hated,  and  at  last 
destroyed,  the  few  nobles  of  their  Empire ; and 
capricious  and  cruel  as  they  have  been,  have  often 
shown  a power  of  steadily  upholding  a great  ser- 
vant such  as  we  all  attribute  to  the  founder  of  the 
new  German  Empire.  This  equality,  this  chance 
of  a career  of  great  opportunities,  great  renown,  and 
great  luxury,  brings  to  Constantinople  a crowd  of 
intriguers,  some  of  them  matchless  villains  ; but  it 
also  brings  a great  crowd  of  able  and  unscrupulous 
men,  who  understand  how  to  “ govern  ” in  the 
Turkish  sense,  and  who  have  constantly  succeeded 
in  restoring  a dominion  which  seemed  hopelessly 
broken  up.  Every  Pasha  is  a despot,  an  able 
despot  is  soon  felt,  and  he  has  in  carrying  out  the 
method  of  Turkish  government,  which  is  simply  the 


334 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


old  Tartar  method  of  stamping  out  resistance,  an 
advantage  over  Europeans  which  is  the  third  cause 
of  the  continuance  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  He  is 
tormented  with  no  hesitations  in  applying  force  as 
a cure  for  all  things.  The  man  who  resists  is  to 
die,  or  purchase  life  by  submission.  A European 
of  our  day,  however  determined,  can  hardly  carry 
out  that  policy  consistently.  His  intellect  and  his 
conscience  alike  revolt.  He  hates  the  necessary 
destruction, — destruction,  if  a province  or  an  island 
revolts,  like  Titus’  destruction  of  Judea;  he  cannot 
bear  his  own  doubts  as  to  his  own  righteousness  in 
so  slaughtering.  The  Ottoman  has  no  such  enfee- 
bling hesitations.  To  destroy  all  non-Mussulmans 
who  resist  is  precisely  what  the  Prophet  ordered  ; 
and  to  destroy  Mussulmans  who  rebel  is  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Prophet’s  practice,  and  every  tradition 
of  his  faith.  He  has,  therefore,  no  hesitation,  no 
halfness,  no  repinings,  but  uses  force  when  required 
in  its  extreme  form,  the  form  in  which,  if  it  be  but 
sufficient,  it  always  succeeds  in  procuring  submis- 
sion. The  true  Turkish  sentence  is  death,  and 
death  poured  out  in  buckets  bewilders  an  Opposi- 
tion. There  is  but  one  case  in  Europe  in  which 
force  is  thus  habitually  employed,  force,  that  is, 
implying  capital  punishment,  by  men  who  have  no 
doubts  or  compunctions  or  remorse  in  applying  it 
and  that  is  the  maintenance  of  discipline  in  a con 
script  army.  The  officers  are  few,  and  the  men 
many,  but  a mutiny  in  a conscript  army  is  as  yet 


WHY  TURKEY  LIVES 


335 


an  unknown  event.  There  is  probably  in  all  the 
Sultan’s  dominion  not  one  man,  not  an  Ottoman  or 
an  Albanian,  who  would  not  give  five  years  of  his 
life  that  that  dominion  should  be  overthrown ; but 
there  is  no  mutiny  without  foreign  assistance,  the 
dread  of  force,  unhesitatingly  applied  by  men  who 
have  no  doubts,  over-mastering  hate,  just  as  it  does 
with  the  fiercest  conscripts  in  all  the  armies  of  the 
Continent. 

Even  now,  when  we  all  talk  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  as  moribund,  it  is  doubtful  if  it  will  perish 
under  any  decay  from  within.  The  subject  races 
do  not  grow  stronger,  as  witness  recent  scenes  in 
Armenia,  where  a single  tribe,  with  only  tolerance 
from  the  Sultan,  keeps  a whole  people  in  agonies  of 
fear.  The  Arabs,  full-blooded  and  half-caste,  who 
might  succeed  in  insurrection,  find  the  strength  of 
civilized  Europe  right  across  their  path,  and  are 
precipitating  themselves,  in  a fury  of  fanaticism  and 
greed,  upon  the  powerless  States  of  the  interior  of 
Africa.  The  European  subjects  of  the  Sultan  are 
cowed,  and  without  foreign  assistance  will  not  risk  a 
repetition  of  Batouk.  The  army  for  internal  pur- 
poses is  far  stronger  than  ever,  the  men  being  the 
old  Ottoman  soldiers,  brave  as  Englishmen,  abste- 
mious as  Spaniards,  to  whom  the  Germans  have 
lent  their  discipline  and  their  drill.  No  force 
within  the  Empire  outside  Arabia  could  resist  the 
reorganized  troops  who  defiled  on  Sunday  before 
the  Emperor,  or  hope  to  reach,  as  no  doubt  the  first 


336 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Mahdi  if  left  alone  might  have  reached,  Constanti- 
nople itself.  The  financial  difficulties  of  the  Trea- 
sury are  great,  but  the  Sultans  have  recently  risked 
and  have  survived  complete  repudiation,  and  the 
revenue  is  enough,  and  will  remain  enough,  to  keep 
the  Army  together  and  supply  the  luxury  of  the 
Palace.  There  is  one  weak  place  in  the  interior  of 
the  Empire,  the  slowly  decaying  force  of  the  House 
of  Othman,  which  now  has  a deep  taint  in  its  veins 
unknown  to  the  earlier  Sultans  ; and  this  may  bring 
the  dynasty  to  an  end.  The  Mussulman  system  of 
succession  is,  however,  the  strongest  yet  devised  by 
man,  prohibiting  as  it  does  the  accession  of  a woman 
or  a child,  and  an  adequate  successor  may  still  follow 
Abdul  Hamid.  Failing  that  continuous  decay,  the 
Empire  will  last,  and  probably  remain  great,  until  it 
goes  down  before  outside  force,  which  again,  in  the 
endless  jealousies  of  the  Powers,  may  not  be  applied 
in  its  full  weight  for  many  years  to  come.  The 
land  attack  on  Constantinople  is  more  difficult, 
whether  to  Slav  or  Austrian,  than  ever ; and  the 
maritime  Powers  cannot  settle,  cannot  even,  to  all 
appearance,  think,  who  shall  be  reversionary  heir  to 
the  gateway  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean. 
We  may  hope  for  better  things ; but  there  is  no 
visible  ground  for  certainty  that  if  the  German 
Kaiser’s  grandson  visits  Constantinople,  he  will 
witness,  as  Frederic  Barbarossa  did,  high  mass 
repeated  by  Christian  priests  in  the  restored 
Cathedral  of  St.  Sophia. 


Tropical  Colonization 

WE  wish  we  could  heartily  agree  in  the  views 
of  Mr.  Frederick  Boyle,  but  history,  we 
fear,  forbids.  That  gentleman,  who  has  much  and 
varied  experience  of  tropical  lands,  argued,  in  the  New 
Review , that  the  English  belief  as  to  the  impossibility 
of  Europeans  colonizing  tropical  countries  was  a 
baseless,  as  well  as  an  embarrassing,  prejudice.  We 
shall  have  to  do  it,  he  says,  for  the  temperate 
regions  are  either  getting  full,  or  being  closed  to 
immigrants  by  the  jealousy  of  their  occupants  ; and 
we  may  therefore  as  well  reconsider  the  objections 
to  settling  in  the  tropical  or,  to  be  more  exact— for 
the  description  which  includes  Northern  India  in 
the  tropics  is  a little  vague — in  the  hotter  regions  of 
the  globe.  Mr.  Boyle  finds  most  of  them  unreal. 
That  man  as  a being  does  not  degenerate  physically 
in  the  hot  countries  seems  to  him  certain,  and  we 
should  admit  that  the  evidence  is  for  the  most  part 
wholly  on  his  side.  The  Bengalees  may  be  allowed 
to  be  “ a feeble  folk  ” — though  there  is  great 
exaggeration  even  about  this — but  the  Arabs,  the 
Soudanese,  the  Southern  Chinese,  and  almost  all 


337 


z 


338 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


negroes  are  remarkable  for  muscular  strength,  power 
of  enduring  fatigue,  and  physical  energy  in  general. 
They  have  less  perhaps  of  the  habit  of  living  than 
Northern  Europeans — though  half  the  centenarians 
of  the  world  are  negroes — but  that  probably  results 
from  special  circumstances,  the  English  from  the 
twelfth  to  the  eighteenth  century  having  died  at 
least  as  fast  as  any  dark  tribe.  If  they  had  not, 
they  would  have  increased  in  numbers  at  a much 
quicker  rate.  The  dark  peoples  are,  in  fact,  as 
“strong”  as  Europeans;  while  as  to  courage,  the 
Soudanese  broke  a British  square,  the  West  Indian 
negro  soldiers  can  be  trusted  anywhere,  and  if 
the  daring  of  the  South  Chinaman  is  doubtful 
except  when  he  is  a pirate,  no  one  has  ever  ques- 
tioned that  of  the  Malay,  either  in  battle  or  in  the 
wild  adventures  which  led  him  to  Madagascar  and 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Nor  is  there  much 
evidence  of  intellectual  decay,  for  if  the  world  owes 
nothing  to  the  negro,  she  takes  all  her  creeds  from 
the  men  of  the  hotter  lands,  and  the  clearest-sighted 
professor  in  Europe  is  not  superior  in  power  of 
subtle  thought  to  the  Brahmin  of  Madras.  If,  then, 
man  as  a genus  does  not  necessarily  degenerate  in 
the  tropics,  why  should  the  white  man,  his  most 
energetic  species,  degenerate  either  ? As  a matter 
of  fact,  there  are  families  of  Jews  which,  without 
mixing  their  blood,  have  retained  all  energies,  in 
Persia,  Bombay,  and  even  Bengal,  for  centuries  ; 
while  the  people  of  Costa  Rica,  who  are  “ nearly 


TROPICAL  COLONIZATION 


339 


white,”  are  a singularly  hardy  peasantry,  and  we 
may  add  the  Copts,  who,  if  not  white,  are  as  nearly 
white  as  the  Jews,  are  still  the  most  competent  race 
in  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  Neither  the  Ptolemies 
nor  their  soldiers  degenerated  in  Egypt,  and  there 
are  Spanish  families  in  Mexico  as  strong  and  as 
able  as  ever  their  progenitors  were  in  Old  Spain. 
Why  then,  asks  Mr.  Boyle,  should  not  some  State 
try  the  experiment  of  a tropical  colony,  which,  if  it 
succeeded,  would  open  such  vast  regions  to  Euro- 
pean immigration,  nay,  might  even  produce  a race 
greater  than  any  now  existing,  for  Mr.  Boyle 
sympathizes  a little  with  the  naturalist,  Mr.  Bates, 
who,  after  years  spent  in  the  forests  of  Brazil, 
chiefly  in  the  valley  of  the  Amazon,  found  himself 
so  fascinated  by  the  vigour  of  Nature  in  the  tropics 
that  he  wrote  : — “ The  well-balanced  forces  of  nature 
maintain  here  a land  surface  and  a climate  that 
seem  to  be  typical  of  mundane  order  and  beauty. 

. . I hold  to  the  opinion  that,  though  humanity 

can  reach  an  advanced  degree  of  culture  only  by 
battling  with  the  inclemencies  of  nature  in  high 
latitudes,  it  is  under  the  equator  alone  that  the  race 
of  the  future  will  attain  to  complete  fruition  of  man’s 
beautiful  heritage,  the  earth.” 

It  is  a splendid  dream,  because  it  opens  up  new 
and  almost  infinite  possibilities  for  the  white  race 
now  dominating,  though  it  does  not  colonize,  all  the 
continents ; but  we  fear  a dream  only.  History 
is  opposed  to  Mr.  Boyle.  To  begin  with,  that  must 


34° 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


have  been  a powerful  instinct  or  a most  operative 
law  which  originally  divided  mankind,  so  that  the 
white  race  was  confined  to  Europe,  that  the  black 
race  populated  Africa,  and  that  the  huge  bulk  of  Asia, 
the  most  fertile  and  tempting  of  all  the  continents, 
was  filled  with  yellow  and  brown  men.  A scientific 
theorist  would  certainly  say  that  some  immutable 
law  of  convenience  alone  could  have  produced  that 
result,  which,  amidst  all  the  endless  mutations  of 
history,  has  remained  substantially  unchanged. 
Europe  and  Asia  have  fought  for  ever,  but  the  bulk 
of  the  populations  have  remained  European  and 
Asiatic,  while  the  great  Roman  invasion  of  Northern 
Africa  and  the  Vandal  invasion  which  followed  it, 
alike  ended  in  the  triumph,  more  or  less  complete, 
of  the  brown  races.  Historians  suggest  no  expla- 
nation of  this  cardinal  fact,  nor  is  any  we  think 
possible,  except  that,  whatever  the  meaning  of  the 
mysterious  law  of  race — and  science  in  no  way 
accounts  even  for  colour — the  white  peoples  flourish 
best  within  strictly  temperate  regions.  They  can 
flourish  in  the  highlands  of  the  tropics,  but  they  do 
not  reach  their  highest  level,  and  tend,  when 
attacked  for  ages  by  autochthons,  to  recede,  as  they 
have  done  in  Egypt,  and  are  doing  in  many  parts 
of  Spanish  America.  It  is  probably  true  that  they 
can  labour  in  the  tropics,  for  the  white  mechanics  of 
the  Southern  States  of  the  Union  live  and  work 
there,  and  possible  that,  as  governing  castes,  they 
would  in  the  tropics  develop  marvellous  energy  ; but 


TROPICAL  COLONIZATION 


34i 


they  at  most  certainly  would  not  advance  as  rapidly 
as  in  Europe.  Englishmen  are,  we  think,  for  some 
unknown  reason,  habitually  unfair  to  Spanish 
Americans,  who,  whether  pure  or  crossed,  have 
produced  men  of  singular  daring,  energy,  and  power 
of  endurance ; who  have  built  great  cities  and 
reclaimed  great  regions  of  the  earth  ; and  who  have 
besides  a power  of  absorption  and  attraction  acknow- 
ledged by  all  who  settle  in  Spanish  America,  Italians 
more  especially ; but  it  would  be  foolish  to  say  that 
the  owners  of  Brazil  or  Central  America  or  Mexico 
show  any  symptoms  of  developing  into  the  superior 
race  of  mankind.  Pure  or  crossed,  an  optimist 
would  hardly  say  of  them  that  they  were  better 
than  their  ancestors  in  Old  Spain  or  Portugal.  A 
“ Southern  gentleman  ” of  English  blood  is  often 
a very  fine  man  ; but  he  is  not  so  much  nobler  than 
an  English  gentleman  that  he  can  be  quoted  to 
prove  the  truth  of  Mr.  Bates’  dream.  That  the  hot 
lands  are  not  fatal  to  energy  may  be  true  ; but 
certainly  they  do  not,  with  all  their  natural  advan- 
tages, ever  tend  to  produce  it.  If  they  did,  the 
most  glorious  of  all  tropical  countries,  Ceylon,  would 
have  produced  a grand  race ; and  it  has  not  done  it. 
There,  with  land  of  all  altitudes,  and  all  kinds  of 
powers  of  production,  amidst  perpetual  summer  and 
scenes  which,  if  the  theorists  are  right,  should  have 
bred  in  them  an  abnormal  sense  of  beauty,  dwells  a 
race  which  we  have  no  wish  to  decry,  but  which  is 
certainly  not  more  distinguished  than,  say,  the 


342 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


Belgian  or  the  Swede  for  any  high  qualities  what- 
soever. Whether  an  admixture  of  white  blood 
would  have  altered  the  result,  as  we  understand 
Mr.  Boyle  to  half  believe — at  least  if  he  does  not 
believe  it,  we  do  not  quite  comprehend  the  drift 
of  his  remarks  on  the  cross-breeds — is  still  an 
unsettled  question  ; but  it  is  clear  that  in  the 
Southern  States  of  the  Union,  in  Spanish  America, 
and  in  India,  such  admixture  has  not  developed 
any  markedly  superior  race.  Mr.  Bates’  hope  is  a 
dream. 

We  should  say,  on  a review  of  the  whole  evidence, 
that  it  pointed  to  this  result.  It  is  probably  much 
more  possible  for  white  men  to  colonize  a tropical 
country  than  is  imagined,  especially  if  the  colony 
was  so  organized  that  sanitary  laws  could  be  en- 
forced from  the  very  first ; but  the  first  generation 
would  suffer  terribly  from  unaccustomed  diseases — 
low  fever,  for  example — from  the  depressing  effect 
of  a change  of  climate,  and  from  the  shock  involved 
in  a violent  change  of  daily  habitudes  as  to  diet, 
hours  of  labour,  and  general  social  life.  This  suffer- 
ing, involving  much  mortality,  would  discourage  the 
average  colonist  to  such  a degree  that  he  would  not 
remain  for  the  time  which  even  Mr.  Boyle  admits 
to  be  necessary  to  secure  complete  acclimatization. 
No  generation  of  men  will  devote  itself  in  this  way 
for  the  benefit  of  its  successors,  and  every  experi- 
ment will  therefore  end  either  in  failure,  or  in  the 
importation  of  races  able  to  relieve  the  colonists 


TROPICAL  COLONIZATION 


343 


of  all  severe  or  exhausting  toil.  The  second  alter- 
native  may  succeed — has,  for  example,  succeeded  in 
Louisiana ; but  that  is  not  colonization  by  white 
men.  It  is  “ settlement  ” — a very  different  matter, 
and  one  which  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  as  yet 
fairly  tried.  We  can  quite  conceive  of  both  the 
world  and  the  whites  being  benefited  by  the  settle- 
ment of  a tropical  region,  in  which  dark  men  shall 
labour,  and  white  men,  few  comparatively  in  number, 
shall  guide  their  labour,  and,  while  reaping  a profit 
out  of  their  exertions,  shall  deliberately  endeavour 
to  keep  up  among  them  a high  and  improving 
standard  of  civilization.  A body  of  white  colonists 
working  as  a hieratic  caste,  and  governing  in  the 
interest  of  the  labourers  as  well  as  their  own,  might 
produce,  under  favouring  circumstances,  such  results 
as  the  world  has  never  seen,  a civilization  in  which 
poverty,  disease,  and  crime  were  almost  entirely 
absent,  and  the  whole  community  exulted  in  strug- 
gling forward  to  some  lofty  ideal.  The  experiment, 
however,  has  never  been  made,  except  by  the 
Jesuits  in  Paraguay,  and  it  is  difficult  to  imagine 
how  it  could  succeed.  The  guides  become  arbitrary 
or  the  guided  rebellious,  or  in  the  end  some  adroit 
man  avails  himself  of  human  foibles  to  seize  the 
reins  of  power,  and  we  have,  as  under  Dr.  Francia 
and  his  heir,  a pure  despotism  which  advances 
nothing,  because  in  the  interest  of  the  despotism 
individuality  must  be  put  down.  We  rather 
wonder,  however,  that  the  experiment  has  never 


344 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


been  tried  by  laymen,  who,  with  a healthy  African 
district  before  them,  and  two  regiments  of  black 
freedmen  from  America,  might  achieve,  for  a time 
at  least,  a considerable  result,  and  would  certainly 
add  considerably  to  the  knowledge  of  mankind.  A 
good  many  phalansteres  have  been  started  from  time 
to  time,  and  a philanthropic  Baron  Hirsch  might  try 
that  one  with  some  faint  hope  of  success.  It  would, 
however,  be  a faint  hope,  the  law  of  ages  being 
clearly  that  Europeans  and  Asiatics  and  Africans 
will  not,  unless  coerced  by  irresistible  circumstances, 
work  in  continuous  harmony  together. 


Hindoo  “ Barbarism  ” 


N educated  Hindoo,  who  signs  himself  “ A 


Member  of  the  Brahmo  - Somaj,”  and  is 
therefore  no  Hindoo  by  creed,  but  a Theist,  writes 
to  the  Times  to  complain  that  Indian  pomp 
should  be  described  by  the  word  “ barbaric.”  He 
evidently  confuses  the  word  with  “ barbarous,”  and 
goes  on  to  a general  defence  of  the  civilization  of 
India  as  compared  with  that  of  England,  which  is 
out  of  place,  as  he  might  have  met  the  attack  in  a 
much  more  direct  fashion.  It  is  very  doubtful 
whether  the  Indian  pomp,  of  which  we  hear  so  much 
during  the  Prince’s  visit  that  Englishmen  will  fancy 
Indian  life  all  reception,  procession  and  elephant — 
can  fairly  be  described  as  “ barbaric,”  even  in  the 
limited  sense  in  which  the  Times  declares  that  it 
has  used  the  word,  as  expressing  only  splendour 
without  taste.  The  native  of  India  is  by  no  means 
specially  addicted  to  that  particular  fault.  He  is,  as 
a rule,  rigidly  simple  in  dress,  habitually  using  white 
for  his  costume,  and  when  he  departs  from  it,  choos- 
ing colours  with  an  eye  for  restrained  effect,  that 
secures  results  which  are  admired  by  Europeans  in 


346 


346 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


exact  proportion  to  their  artistic  knowledge.  And 
it  is  natural  that  it  should  be  so.  Living  in  a 
country  where  the  air  is  filled  with  a painful  wealth 
of  penetrating  life,  such  as  men  bred  in  our  climate 
can  scarcely  realize,  he  loves  shade  and  dusk  and 
quiet  colours,  builds  halls  of  reception  in  which  a 
perpetual  twilight  reigns,  plants  his  house  in  a grove 
of  broad  leaved  trees  in  order  to  enjoy  the  shade, 
and  dresses  himself  by  preference  in  white — the 
white,  be  it  observed,  being  not  the  glaring  white  of 
this  paper,  but  white  toned  by  the  dusky  skin  just 
seen  beneath  the  muslin,  till  it  has  something  of  the 
cream-like  effect  which  is  the  distinction  of  Satsuma 
ware.  Even  when  he  desires  splendour  and  employs 
bright  colours,  their  garishness,  made  so  obvious  by 
the  lighted  atmosphere,  pains  and  annoys  him,  till 
he  has  learnt,  by  the  observation  of  centuries,  to 
combine  them  into  a flat  brilliancy  which  is  the 
despair  of  European  artists.  It  is  the  positive  pain 
received  by  the  eye  in  that  climate  from  garishness 
which  has  taught  the  native  to  combine  insufferably 
gaudy  colours  into  the  Cashmere  shawl,  the  Mirza- 
pore  carpet,  the  marble  work  of  his  floorings,  and 
the  broad-brimmed,  coloured  turban  of  full  dress, 
often  a marvellous  specimen  of  art,  and  always, 
unless  injured  by  some  caste  rule  or  family  tradition, 
producing  an  effect  of  subdued  splendour  as  little 
barbaric  as  the  newest  French  ribbon  in  teints 
degrades.  The  dress  of  a great  native  magnate, 
the  account  of  which  reads  so  “ splendiferous,”  is 


HINDOO  “BARBARISM 


347 


usually  a marvel  of  restrained  effect,  and  no  more 
barbaric — that  is,  no  more  wanting  in  essential 
harmony  with  its  end — than  that  of  the  great  Parisi- 
enne,  who,  like  the  native  noble,  employs  gems  to 
set  off  her  raiment  and  show  her  wealth.  If,  indeed, 
“ gold  and  pearl  ” be  in  themselves  “ barbaric,”  as 
Milton  said — he  only  meant  “ foreign,”  as  the  Greeks 
did  when  they  used  the  word — then  the  Times  is 
right,  but  that  is  surely  not  true  taste.  It  is  bright- 
ness out  of  place  which  is  barbaric,  not  brightness 
itself.  Who  doubts  the  artistic  accuracy  of  the  most 
blazing  of  all  jewels — a lady’s  collar  of  tiger-claws 
set  in  gold  and  rubies  ? It  is  true,  a native  noble 
prefers  his  gems  uncut,  but  that  arises  from  reasons 
which  are  not  barbaric,  and  will  appeal  to  many 
connoisseurs.  You  cannot  imitate  the  uncut  stone, 
with  its  strange,  momentary  revealings  of  colours,  and 
that  sort  of  mystery  of  light  hidden  in  it  which 
touches  a native  imagination,  and  is  the  secret  of 
his  delight  in  the  half-translucent  gems,  in  the  opal, 
in  the  cat’s-eye — which  is  worth  in  India  many 
times  its  value  in  Europe,  and  is  invested  with  all 
manner  of  weird  attributes — and  in  the  unrevealing 
depth  of  the  larger  carbuncles,  which  seem  to  emit 
instead  of  receiving  light,  till  the  native  asserts  that 
they  actually  do  it.  In  his  management  of  a cere- 
monial or  a procession,  the  Hindoo,  who  holds  the 
ceremonial  in  a hall  filled  with  one  broad  shadow, 
and  begins  his  procession  in  half-light,  is  not  seeking 
garishness,  or  an  exhibition  of  mere  wealth,  but  an 


348 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


effect  which  in  Europe,  in  theatres  and  opera-houses, 
we  all  profess  to  enjoy,  an  effect  of  splendour  with 
which  reality  has  nothing  to  do.  The  truth  about 
him  on  this  side  of  his  head  is  not  that  he  is  barbaric, 
but  that  he  is  histrionic  to  excess,  and  when  the  mood 
is  on  him  he  will  seek  his  theatrical  result  by  means 
which,  to  Europeans,  who  assume  the  necessity  of 
tinsel  on  the  stage,  but  forget  it  in  India,  seems 
grotesque  or  barbarous.  The  painting  of  animals’ 
heads,  the  adornment  of  elephants  with  gold  bracelets, 
and  all  the  like  exhibitions,  are  not  efforts  at  display, 
as  the  Times  fancies,  but  efforts  to  realize  a picture 
existing  in  the  native’s  mind,  as  it  exists  in  that  of 
the  scene-painter,  and  we  may  add,  is  very  often 
realized.  The  gold  and  the  paint,  we  say,  are  out 
of  place,  but  they  are  no  more  so  in  intention  than 
the  blacklead  with  which  we  darken  the  coats  of 
funeral-horses,  or  the  spangles  with  which  a dancer 
tries  to  give  her  dress  a coruscating  effect.  The 
evil  is  not  want  of  true  taste,  which  in  such  matters 
a Hindoo  has,  but  a histrionic  disregard  for  reality 
when  in  search  of  impressions.  “ A Member  of  the 
Brahmo-Somaj  ” is  right  enough  when  he  points  to 
the  English  lady’s  chignon  as  more  barbaric  than  his 
pomp,  for  the  wearer  of  the  chignon  does  not  when 
wearing  it  postulate  in  her  mind  a stage-effect,  as  the 
Hindoo  does. 

“A  Member  of  the  Brahmo-Somaj  ” might  have 
made  a better  case  for  his  countrymen’s  pomps,  and 
when  he  passes  to  the  general  question  of  compara- 


HINDOO  “ BARBARISM 


349 


tive  civilizations,  he  makes  a muddle  between 
civilization  and  morality,  and  to  be  even  intelligible 
should  have  added  definitions.  What  does  he 
understand  by  civilization  ? We  understand  by  it 
that  state  of  society  in  which  the  will,  the  interests, 
and  the  passions  of  the  individual  are  restrained  by 
irresistible  law  for  the  protection  of  the  whole 
community,  or  it  may  be,  for  its  advancement 
towards  an  end  deemed  by  that  community  in  its 
wisest  moments  permanently  desirable.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that,  so  defined,  civilization  exists  in 
Western  Europe  ; and  as  little  that,  so  defined,  it 
exists  in  part  in  India.  A native  is  bound  in  every 
action  of  his  life  by  codes  and  laws,  and  customs 
having  the  force  of  law,  which  he  never  violates, 
and  the  majority  of  which  are  intended  either  to 
benefit  the  community,  or  to  advance  towards  an 
ideal,  or  to  maintain  intact  the  Divinely-appointed 
order  of  society.  Nevertheless,  civilization  in  the 
East  and  West  is  not  the  same  thing.  The  differ- 
ence, the  radical  difference,  is  not  only,  as  the  Times 
says,  that  the  Western  civilization  is  progressive 
and  the  Eastern  stationary — for  any  civilization, 
however  lofty,  with  which  its  subjects  were  thor- 
oughly content  would  be  stationary,  and  we  have  no 
proof  that  progress  is  to  last  for  ever — but  that  in 
India  breaks  are  allowed  in  the  grand  chain  which 
often  render  it  feeble,  or  seem  to  destroy  it  alto- 
gether. Three  doors  always  stand  open  in  India 
for  the  reintrusion  of  barbaric  individualism.  Any 


35° 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


man  who  professes  that  his  religion  justifies  or 
enjoins  a particular  act  is  thereby  exempt  from 
“ civilization,” — that  is,  from  the  general  polity  made 
in  the  interest  of  all.  The  Hindoo  moral  code  is, 
in  substance,  the  same  as  our  own ; but  if  a sept 
declares  that  its  creed  or  its  caste-rule  enjoins 
infanticide,  as  among  Rajpoots  ; or  unlimited  poly- 
gamy, as  among  Koolin  Brahmins  ; or  abnormal 
sexual  laws,  as  among  some  sections  of  the  Sivaites ; 
or  murder,  as  among  the  followers  of  Bhowani ; or 
defiance  of  all  rules  of  decency,  as  among  the  Jains, 
Jogees,  and  some  other  sects,  authority  drops  its 
sword,  and  even  opinion  ceases  to  act.  The 
absolute  right  of  the  individual,  as  against  civiliza- 
tion, is  restored,  and  however  abhorred  or  however 
noxious  he  is  not  effectively  condemned.  If  a 
Government  alien  from  the  people  chooses  to  sup- 
press abnormal  religious  practices,  the  people  neither 
resent  nor  resist ; but  the  Indian  civilization  of  itself 
by  the  law  of  its  being,  cannot  suppress  suttee, 
female  infanticide,  Thuggeeism — though  self-defence 
may  order  the  killing  of  the  individual  Thug — 
phallic  worship,  or  the  unrestricted  wandering  of 
naked  devotees  of  both  sexes  in  front  of  palaces 
tenanted  by  all-powerful  persons,  who,  whether 
moral  or  immoral  themselves,  hold  on  all  these 
subjects  the  same  ideas  of  civilization  as  Europeans. 
The  chain  of  civilization  breaks  before  the  claim  of 
religious  freedom,  and  admits  a rush  of  barbarism 
which  affects  all  external  as  well  as  all  internal  life 


HINDOO  “BARBARISM 


351 


in  India,  every  caste  professing  some  tenet  or  main- 
taining some  privilege  intended  to  operate  for  its 
own  advantage  against  the  general  good  of  the 
community.  Another  break,  and  quite  as  potent  a 
one,  is  the  liberty  allowed  to  the  ruler.  His  duty, 
on  the  Hindoo  theory,  is  precisely  his  duty  on  the 
English  theory  ; but  he  is  unbound  by  law,  and 
consequently,  if  he  is  bad,  civilization  ends.  The 
will  of  the  ruler,  or  of  those  he  appoints,  is  not 
subordinated  to  the  interest  of  the  community,  but 
is  allowed  to  act  against  it  without  punishment,  and 
except  in  very  extreme  cases,  without  serious 
reproach.  All  Hindoo  thought  condemned  a life 
like  that  of  the  late  ruler  of  Baroda,  but  it  is  nearly 
certain  he  would  not  have  been  upset,  and  quite 
probable  that  he  was  popular.  The  power  of  the 
ruler  being  great,  his  individualism,  thus  left  free, 
may  and  frequently  does  break  up  civilization, 
makes  commerce,  for  instance,  impossible,  or 
throws  counties  out  of  cultivation,  or  arrests 
the  whole  course  of  education  for  a gener- 
ation. Those  evils  do  not  happen  in  Western 
Europe,  even  when  what  is  here  called  absolutism 
has  been  vested  in  the  ruler.  His  will  is  not  really 
released  even  if,  like  the  Kings  of  Denmark,  he  is 
declared  by  the  Constitution  “ absolute  throughout 
his  dominions.”  And  finally,  there  is  a third  break 
in  the  chain,  in  the  one-sidedness  with  which  the 
doctrine  that  the  individual  is  to  give  way  to  the 
community  is  applied.  The  doctrine — allowing  for 


352 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


the  two  great  exemptions  we  have  mentioned — is 
held  in  theory  as  a prohibitory  law  as  strongly  as 
in  Europe,  but  as  a stimulating  law  it  is  not  held  at 
all.  No  Hindoo  holds  himself  at  liberty  to  hurt  the 
community,  but  no  Hindoo  holds  himself  bound  to 
benefit  it  to  his  own  effacement.  For  instance,  any 
Hindoo  would  deny  that  he  had  a right  to  rob  the 
village  Treasury,  and  if  a decent  man  he  would  not  do 
it,  any  more  than  an  English  clergyman  would  steal 
his  sacramental  plate.  But  no  Hindoo  who  could 
avoid  the  tax  paid  to  that  Treasury  would  think 
himself  morally  wrong  in  avoiding  it.  The  man  who 
would  not  murder  for  the  world  is  not  bound  in  his 
own  mind  to  warn  the  traveller  of  the  approaching 
Thug.  The  man  who  would  not  steal  for  the  world 
— and  there  are  millions  of  Hindoos  just  as  likely  to 
steal  as  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury — does  not 
feel  obliged  to  prevent  a theft.  Individualism  is 
rampant  on  this  side,  the  right  to  tolerate  anything, 
until  India  has  been  conquered  by  successive  hosts 
of  foreigners.  It  is  alleged  that  Hindoos  have  no 
patriotism,  and  many  Europeans  will  assert  that  no 
such  idea  as  that  of  “ country  ” even  has  ever 
entered  their  minds.  We  utterly  disbelieve  it, — 
believe,  on  the  contrary,  that  Hindoos  have  a 
patriotism  of  a sensitive  kind,  a profound  belief  that 
India  is,  and  ought  to  be,  and  ultimately  will  be,  for 
them  ; that  invasion  is  unjust,  and  that  the  invader 
ought  to  depart.  But  that  he  who  thinks  so 
individually  ought  to  risk  life,  property,  or  freedom 


HINDOO  “ BARBARISM 


353 


in  making  the  intruder  depart,  he  does  not  think  ; 
and  so,  unless  he  can  gain  by  the  effort,  he  leaves 
him  to  conquer  at  his  will.  India  is,  in  fact,  a 
civilized  country,  in  which  the  community  is  above 
the  individual,  except  when  the  latter  pleads  religion, 
when  the  latter  is  a ruler,  and  when  the  duty  to  be 
observed  is  positive,  and  not  negative  ; and  those 
three  exceptions  make  its  civilization  so  imperfect, 
that  careless  observers  are  almost  justified  in  calling 
it  “ barbaric.” 


The  Future  of  the  Negro 


IT  is  difficult  for  men  who  study  history  to  read 
the  discussion  now  raging  on  the  progress  of 
Islam  in  Africa  without  recurring  to  the  old  ques- 
tion— which  so  greatly  interested  the  last  generation, 
and  is  now  so  seldom  started — the  question  of  what 
the  Negro  is  really  like.  There  are  not  many  left 
among  us,  we  imagine,  though  there  are  some  here 
and  there,  who  doubt  whether  he  is  a man  at  all ; 
but  the  conflict  of  opinion  about  him  is  of  the  most 
extreme  kind,  so  extreme  as  to  be  almost  unintel- 
ligible. One  set  of  observers,  with  whom  Captain 
Burton,  as  we  understand  his  writings,  agrees  in 
the  main,  hold  that  he  is  a nearly  irreclaimable 
savage,  a being  who  cannot  be  ruled  except  by 
terror,  and  who  is  by  nature  incapable  of  rising  to 
the  level  attained  by  the  white,  and  even  in  many 
respects  by  the  yellow  and  the  brownish  man. 
They  think  his  savagery  instinctive,  his  laziness 
incurable,  and  his  sensuality  far  in  excess  of  any- 
thing observable  in  Europe.  They  declare  Africa 
an  accursed  continent  chiefly  because  of  the  Negro, 
and  welcome  frightful  narratives,  like  Mr.  St.  John’s 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO 


355 


account  of  Hayti,  as  demonstrating  past  all  question 
the  accuracy  of  their  theory.  Other  observers, 
again,  including  many  missionaries  and  some  ex- 
plorers, are  friendly  to  the  Negro,  think  that  the 
repulsion  caused  by  his  external  aspect  makes  or- 
dinary men  unjust  to  him,  and  declare  that  he  is, 
when  not  oppressed,  essentially  a docile  creature 
indisposed  to  vindictiveness,  and  though  not  clever, 
fairly  ready  to  receive  instruction,  which,  they  further 
add,  may  occasionally  be  carried  up  to  any  point 
attainable  by  the  white  man.  Such  observers, 
among  whom  we  should  class  keen-eyed  Mrs. 
Trollope,  who  had  rare  opportunities  of  studying 
the  race,  and  keener-eyed  Mrs.  Stowe,  think  the 
Uncle-Tom  kind  of  Negro  not  rare,  and  evidently 
hold  that  when  bad,  he  is  vicious  as  a European 
may  be,  rather  than  innately  savage.  A third  class 
maintain  that  the  Negro,  if  carefully  observed,  is 
found  to  be  exactly  like  everybody  else,  with  the 
same  passions,  the  same  aspirations,  and  the  same 
powers,  with  one  most  remarkable  exception.  He 
cannot  rise  in  the  scale  beyond  a certain  point. 
The  originating  power  of  the  European  and  the 
imitating  power  of  the  modern  Asiatic  are  not  in 
him,  or  not  in  the  same  degree ; and  he  remains 
under  all  circumstances  more  or  less  of  a child,  bad 
or  good  like  other  children,  but  never  quite  a man. 
It  is  added  by  this  class,  and  in  part  by  the  one 
mentioned  before  it,  that  the  Negro  woman  is,  on 
the  whole,  better  than  the  Negro  man,  with  more 


356 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


industry,  more  fidelity,  and  decidedly  more  capacity 
for  the  gentler  virtues.  The  third  opinion  is,  so 
far  as  we  know,  that  of  the  majority  of  missionaries, 
of  most  residents  in  the  West  Indies  not  being 
employers  of  labour,  and  of  all  Americans,  and  they 
have  been  many,  to  whom  we  have  opened  the 
subject.  Americans  seem  to  us,  as  a rule,  to  think 
most  kindly  of  the  Negro,  to  be  entirely  free  from 
fear  of  him,  to  be  annoyed  with  oppression  practised 
on  him,  but  to  be  quite  hopeless  about  his  future. 
He  will  not  advance,  they  think,  and  would  recede 
but  for  the  white  man. 

History  certainly  bears  these  Americans  out. 
Throughout  its  whole  course,  in  the  old  world  as 
in  the  modern  one,  under  the  most  extreme  variety 
of  circumstances,  no  Negro  of  the  full  blood  has 
ever  risen  to  first-class  eminence  among  mankind. 
Not  only  has  there  been  no  Negro  philosopher,  or 
inventor,  or  artist,  or  builder;  but  there  has  been 
no  Negro  conqueror,  nor,  unless  we  class  Said, 
Mahommed’s  slave,  as  one,  and  Toussaint  l’Ouver- 
ture  as  another,  any  Negro  general  above  the  rank 
of  a guerilla  chief.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason 
for  this  except  race.  People  talk  of  the  seclusion 
of  the  Negro;  but  he  has  always  been  in  contact 
on  the  Nile  with  the  Egyptian,  or  the  Greek,  or  the 
Roman,  in  South  America  with  the  Spaniard,  and 
in  North  America  with  the  English-speaking  Teuton, 
and  he  has  learned  very  little.  It  is  objected  that 
he  has  been  always  a slave ; but  so  was  everybody 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO 


357 


else  in  the  Roman  period,  most  modern  Italians,  for 
example,  being  the  descendants  of  the  white  slaves 
of  the  Roman  gentry.  Moreover,  why  does  the 
Negro  put  up  with  that  position,  when  the  China- 
man, and  the  Red  Indian,  and  even  the  native  of 
India  will  not?  It  is  said  that  he  has  been  buried 
in  the  most  “ massive  ” of  the  four  continents,  and 
has  been,  so  to  speak,  lost  to  humanity  ; but  he  was 
always  on  the  Nile,  the  immediate  road  to  the 
Mediterranean,  and  in  West  and  East  Africa  he 
was  on  the  sea.  Africa  is  probably  more  fertile, 
and  almost  certainly  richer  than  Asia,  and  is  pierced 
by  rivers  as  mighty,  and  some  of  them  at  least  as 
navigable.  What  could  a singularly  healthy  race, 
armed  with  a constitution  which  resists  the  sun  and 
defies  malaria,  wish  for  better  than  to  be  seated  on 
the  Nile,  or  the  Congo,  or  the  Niger,  in  numbers 
amply  sufficient  to  execute  any  needed  work, 
from  the  cutting  of  forests  and  the  making  of 
roads  up  to  the  building  of  cities  ? How  was 
the  Negro  more  secluded  than  the  Peruvian ; 
or  why  was  he  “ shut  up  ” worse  than  the 
Tartar  of  Samarcand,  who  one  day  shook  himself, 
gave  up  all  tribal  feuds,  and,  from  the  Sea  of 
Okhotsk  to  the  Baltic,  and  southwards  to  the  Ner- 
budda,  mastered  the  world  ? One  Tartar  family 
was  reigning  at  one  time  over  China,  Tartary,  India 
and  Russia.  Why  has  the  Negro,  who  is  brave  as 
man  may  be,  alone  of  mankind  never  emerged  from 
his  jungles  and  subdued  neighbouring  races  ? Why 


358 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


has  he  never  invented  a creed  of  the  slightest 
spiritual  or  moral  merit,  never,  in  fact,  risen  above 
fetishism  ? Above  all,  why  has  he  remained  in 
Africa  for  three  thousand  years  at  least,  without 
forming  empires  or  building  stone  cities,  or  employ- 
ing a common  medium  of  intercommunication  ? Mr. 
Blyden  says  he  has  formed  cities  full  of  busy  life 
and  commerce ; but  have  they  ever  been  better 
than  encampments,  and  why  have  they  not  lasted  ? 
We  who  write  certainly  do  not  believe  in  the  incur- 
able incapacity  of  the  race,  for  we  know  of  Bishop 
Crowther  and  Mr.  Blyden,  and  have  talked  with 
Negroes  apparently  as  thoughtful  and  as  well  in- 
structed as  any  Europeans ; but  we  confess  that 
the  history  of  the  race  remains  to  us  an  insoluble 
puzzle,  except  upon  the  theory  that  there  are  breeds 
of  mankind  in  whom  that  strangest  of  all  pheno- 
mena, the  arrestment  of  development,  occurs  at  a 
very  early  stage.  The  Negro  went  by  himself  far 
beyond  the  Australian  savage.  He  learned  the 
uses  of  fire,  the  fact  that  sown  grain  will  grow,  the 
value  of  shelter,  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the  canoe, 
and  the  good  of  clothes  ; but  there  to  all  appearance 
he  stopped,  unable,  until  stimulated  by  another  race 
like  the  Arab,  to  advance  a step.  He  did  not  die, 
like  the  Australian.  He  did  not  sink,  like  one  or 
two  varieties  of  the  Red  Indian,  and  of  the  abori- 
gines of  South  Africa,  into  a puny  being  hardly  like 
a man  ; but  he  stopped  at  a point  as  if  arrested  by 
a divine  will.  There  is  not  a shadow  of  proof  that 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO 


359 


the  Negro  described  by  Werne  differs  in  any  way 
from  the  Negro  of  the  time  of  Sesostris.  It  is  not 
quite  certain  even  that  the  race,  when  started  again, 
would,  as  a race,  go  on  improving.  TheHaytians, 
who  are  Christians,  who  are  free,  and  who  are  in 
the  fullest  contact  with  great  white  races,  are  believed 
to  be  retrograding ; and  only  the  hopeful  would 
believe  in  the  future  of  American  slaves,  if  they 
were  to  be  expelled,  as  De  Tocqueville  thought 
they  would  ultimately  be,  to  the  islands,  or,  as  is 
infinitely  more  probable  should  the  war  of  races 
ever  break  out,  to  Central  America. 

As  far  as  we  see,  nothing  really  improves  the 
Negro  except  one  of  two  causes — cross-breeding, 
and  catching  hold  of  some  foreign  but  superior 
creed.  The  cross-breeds  of  the  Soudan  and  of 
South  Africa  seem  to  have  some  fine  qualities — 
matchless  courage,  for  example — and  under  a strict 
but  vivifying  white  rule  might,  we  fancy,  be  brought 
in  a century  or  two  up  to  the  Asiatic  level.  They 
produce  generals,  at  all  events,  and  chiefs  with 
some  tincture  of  statesmanship,  and  have  poetry  and 
a folk-lore  of  their  own.  Those  Negroes,  again, 
who  have  embraced  Islam  do  show  a certain  manli- 
ness, a capacity  for  aggregation,  and  a tendency,  at 
all  events,  to  form  kingdoms,  and  organize  armies, 
and  obey  laws,  which  are  the  first  steps  towards 
a higher  civilization.  It  is  not  a high  civilization, 
for  when  all  is  said,  a Mahommedan  Negro  is  not 
an  ideal  of  humanity  towards  which  Europeans  can 


360 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


look  with  any  feeling  of  enthusiasm  ; but  still,  it  is 
higher,  far  higher,  than  the  condition  of  the  African 
pagan.  The  Negro  who  embraces  Christianity, 
again,  while  he  remains  in  contact  with  the  white 
man,  distinctly  advances.  “Uncle  Tom”  is  an 
abnormal  specimen,  it  may  be,  and  we  are  not 
inclined  to  place  the  moral  condition  of  the  Negroes 
of  the  Southern  States  very  high  ; but  still,  they 
have  displayed  a perfectly  wonderful  absence  of 
vindictiveness  towards  the  former  slave-owners, 
obey  the  ordinary  laws  with  fair  regularity,  and 
keep  themselves  above  starvation  by  the  labour  of 
their  own  hands.  The  best  of  them,  moreover, 
rise  far  beyond  this  point,  the  South  containing 
both  doctors  and  lawyers  who,  by  the  admission 
of  the  whites,  are  thoroughly  competent  men ; and 
it  may  be  said  of  the  whole  body  that,  though  not 
equal  to  any  European  community  of  the  same 
extent,  they  are  far  superior  to  any  four  millions  of 
pagan  Negroes  who  could  be  selected  in  Africa. 
As  they  cannot  owe  this  rise  in  the  scale  to  slavery, 
which  at  the  best  could  only  drill  the  Negroes  to 
industry,  and  at  the  worst  must  beget  a permanent 
distaste  for  labour,  the  change  must  be  owing  to 
Christianity,  plus  the  operation  of  laws  based  upon 
that  faith.  It  follows  that  the  largest  group  of 
Negroes  under  civilized  observation,  the  descend- 
ants, as  is  believed,  of  four  widely  distinguished 
tribes,  have  been  raised  in  the  scale  of  humanity 
by  embracing  a rude  form  of  the  Christian  faith. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  NEGRO 


361 


The  total  conclusion,  therefore,  as  yet  justified  by 
evidence,  is  that  intermarriage,  especially  with  the 
Arab,  improves  the  Negro  tribes,  that  they  gain  in 
manliness  by  embracing  Islam,  and  that  they  gain 
in  the  social  virtues  by  embracing  Christianity,  the 
latter  to  a degree  measured  by  the  depth  and 
earnestness  of  their  faith.  At  home,  when  uncon- 
quered and  unconverted,  they  do  not  advance,  and 
the  point  still  doubtful  is  whether,  when  left  to 
themselves,  they  will  not,  even  when  converted, 
again  recede  or  stop.  The  Abyssinians,  who  are 
Semites,  have  been  Christians  for  ages.  The  con- 
clusion is  not  very  satisfactory  ; but  it  is  certain 
that  races  of  imperfect  powers  exist — e.g.,  the  Aus- 
tralian aborigines — and  that  Providence  does,  for 
unknown  purposes,  occasionally  waste  even  fine 
races — e.g.,  the  Maoris,  who  will,  to  all  appearance, 
die  out,  having  fulfilled  no  function  at  all,  not  even 
that  of  preparing  the  way  for  the  ultimate  occupants 
of  their  country. 


The  Negro  Problem  in  America 


O those  who  interest  themselves  in  the  condi- 


tion of  the  dark  races,  there  is  no  problem 
at  once  so  attractive  and  so  insoluble  as  the 
future  of  the  negroes  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
not  only  that  they  are  already  seven  millions,  and 
will  before  the  end  of  the  century  be  twenty 
millions — a great  nation  camped,  as  it  were,  on  the 
territory  of  a still  greater  nation  which  dislikes  and 
despises  them  ; but  that  they  have  all  the  advantages 
the  possession  of  which  would,  in  the  opinion  of 
most  philanthropists,  redeem  any  black  race  from 
its  age-long  position  of  degradation  among  mankind. 
Some  of  the  ablest  among  us  are  never  tired  of 
proclaiming  that  if  all  Africans  could  be  released 
from  oppression,  if  they  all  became  Christians,  if 
they  all  possessed  the  means  of  education,  and  if 
they  were  all  drilled  by  a steady  habit  of  labour  out 
of  their  habits  of  indolence,  they  would  at  once 
advance,  if  not  to  the  level  of  the  highest 
Europeans,  at  least  to  that  of  the  Russian  moujiks, 
or  of  the  better  Asiatics.  Those  ideals  have  in  the 
case  of  the  American  negroes  all  been  realized. 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  IN  AMERICA  363 


They  are  all  not  only  free  from  servitude,  but 
possessed  of  the  same  voting  powers  as  the  whites 
around,  able  as  their  rivals  wherever  they  can 
obtain  a majority  to  legislate,  to  impose  or  remit 
State  taxes,  to  elect  their  own  rulers,  and  to 
exercise  all  those  functions  of  government — and  they 
are  very  large  functions — reserved  by  the  Constitu- 
tion to  individual  States.  There  is  nothing  what- 
ever in  the  laws  of  the  Union  to  prevent  a negro 
from  becoming  President,  as  a full-blooded  Indian 
became  the  legal  as  well  as  effective  President  of 
Mexico.  They  are  all  nominally  or  really  Chris- 
tians, and  if  the  Christianity  is  not  of  a lofty  kind, 
and  is  shot  with  many  degrading  or  puerile  super- 
stitions, the  same  reservations  must  be  made  as 
regards  most  of  the  Christian  peoples  which  are 
white.  They  have  all  the  means  of  education,  and 
some  of  them  have  become  really  educated  men, 
able  to  pass  any  examinations  or  practise  any  of  the 
learned  professions.  Finally  they  have,  as  a race, 
endured  for  more  than  a century — that  is,  for  genera- 
tion after  generation — the  severest  drilling  in 
industry  ever  borne  by  any  dark  race,  or,  indeed, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Jews,  by  any 
race  whatever.  They  have  all,  for  at  least  four 
generations,  been  compelled  to  work,  and  to  work 
steadily,  from  boyhood  to  late  old  age,  as  hard  as 
any  workmen  anywhere. 

Yet  no  one,  whether  visionary  or  man  of  experi- 
ence or  statesman,  professes  to  be  satisfied  with  the 


364 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


result,  alleges  that  the  mass  of  American  negroes 
are  the  equals  of  any  equal  mass  of  white  men,  or 
even  of  Asiatics,  or  asserts  that  the  races  are  now 
living  together  on  satisfactory  conditions.  Rather 
the  cleavage  between  them  grows  deeper  instead  of 
more  shallow.  The  whites  dislike  and  despise  the 
negroes  more  than  ever  they  did.  They  cannot 
endure  to  see  them  vote,  and  practically  prevent 
them  voting  by  an  unhesitating  use  of  force.  They 
will  not  bear  negroes  as  officials  if  their  terms  of 
office  enable  them  to  rule  white  men.  They  defend 
themselves  against  their  claim  to  equality  by  a wall 
of  etiquettes,  and  defend  that  wall  when  it  is 
threatened  by  an  immediate  and  often  cruel  use  of 
lead  and  steel.  They  hate,  and,  when  they  can, 
prohibit  legal  marriage  between  the  races.  They 
are  ready  to  burn  alive,  and,  as  a matter  of  fact, 
they  often  do  burn  alive,  any  black  man  who 
ravishes  any  white  woman.  They  will  not  sit  at 
table  with  them,  or  travel  in  the  same  cars,  or, 
except  in  the  rarest  instances,  receive  the  Sacrament 
before  the  same  altar.  The  idea  of  a negro  pastor 
to  a white  church  is  to  them  unthinkable.  They,  in 
fact,  even  when  they  will  not  fully  admit  it,  regard 
the  negroes  as  men  who  may  be  men,  and  as  such 
may  be  entitled  to  certain  rights,  but  who  may, 
nevertheless,  be  regarded  even  by  the  good  with 
something  of  instinctive  disgust.  The  negroes,  on 
the  other  hand,  regard  the  whites  with  a mingling  of 
dislike  and  fear.  They  resent  their  own  treatment 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  IN  AMERICA  365 


as  unfair,  and  when  they  dare,  avenge  themselves  by 
what  are  really  small  insurrections  or  assassinations, 
both  of  which  are  put  down,  not  by  appeals  to  the 
law,  or  even  by  the  use  of  troops,  but  by  fierce 
risings  of  armed  mobs  with  which  the  officials  are 
either  unwilling  or  unable  to  deal.  There  is,  in 
fact,  in  all  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union  a fire 
of  race  hatred  always  smouldering  which  might  on 
any  sudden  provocation — if  an  invader,  for  instance, 
appealed  successfully  to  the  negroes  for  aid — break 
into  a devastating  flame.  The  whites  in  the  case 
supposed — a most  improbable  case,  of  course — would 
not  hesitate  at  extirpation.  The  flame  rarely  breaks 
out  now,  first  because  the  whites  are  really  the 
superior  race,  combine  more  readily  and  have  far 
abler  leaders  ; and  secondly,  because  superior  force 
is  so  evidently  on  the  white  side.  The  North  would 
not  tolerate  a negro  victory  even  in  one  State,  and 
hopelessness  of  ultimate  success  helps  to  restrain 
the  black  men,  even  where  they  possess  a majority, 
from  putting  out  their  full  strength  or  attempting  to 
renew  the  experiment  which  has  so  grievously 
failed  in  Haiti. 

With  every  million  added  to  the  negro  crowd,  how- 
ever, the  negro  fear  of  the  whites  will  tend  to  dimin- 
ish, and  it  is  not  surprising  that  cool  observers,  in  the 
States  and  outside,  regard  the  situation  with  alarm, 
and  discuss  with  interest  every  proposition  which 
appears  to  contain  a remedy.  Yet  what  is  that  re- 
medy to  be  ? Some  observers  rely  on  the  influence 


366 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


of  time,  saying,  the  races  being  both  free  will  grow 
accustomed  to  each  other ; but  all  history  denies  the 
truth  of  that  pleasing  impression.  Real  differences 
of  race  never  lose  their  separating  force.  The  Jews 
of  Russia  and  Roumania  have  probably  been  there 
for  fifteen  hundred  years,  have  certainly  been  there 
for  three  hundred,  and  but  for  official  intervention 
the  scenes  of  Kishineff  would  be  repeated  all  over 
Russia.  Except  under  the  influence  of  some  new  re- 
ligious emotion,  about  which  it  is  vain  to  utter  fore- 
casts, the  whites  will  not  change  their  mental  atti- 
tude, nor  the  blacks,  who  are  among  the  vainest 
of  mankind,  cease  to  feel  that  this  attitude  is  for 
them  at  once  a menace  and  an  insult.  A whole- 
sale elevation  of  the  blacks  in  the  scale  of  humanity 
might  do  much  for  them,  but  it  would  probably 
deepen  the  white  distaste  for  any  resulting  equality, 
and  is  in  itself  exceedingly  improbable.  Even  in 
Europe  a real  elevation  of  the  proletariat  is  a slow 
process  consuming  centuries ; and  while  in  Europe 
aristocrat  and  workman  are  essentially  of  the  same 
breed,  the  black  in  America  has  to  shake  himself  free 
of  tendencies  inherited  from  the  earliest  time,  to- 
wards which — as  he  has  shown  in  Haiti — he  has  an 
inexplicable  tendency  to  revert.  The  tendency  is 
not  universal,  for  the  American  negroes  are  not  all 
of  one  race,  but  are  descended  from  many  tribes, 
one  or  two  of  which  were  probably  of  far  better 
morale  and  intellectual  capacity  than  the  others. 
That  is,  we  believe,  the  true  ultimate  explanation 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  IN  AMERICA  367 


both  of  “ Uncle  Tom  ” and  of  Mr.  Washington 
Booker  ; but  the  masses  when  segregated  from  the 
whites  do  not  advance  at  all,  and  on  many  points, 
especially  obedience  to  sexual  restrictions,  remain 
African  rather  than  American. 

There  seems  to  be  little  hope  in  cross-breeding. 
Shortly  after  the  great  Civil  War  the  word  “ misce- 
genation ” was  in  all  men’s  mouths  ; but  the  races 
mix  less  than  they  did  in  the  slave-holding  period, 
and  the  dislike  felt  for  the  hybrid  is  stronger  in  the 
white  than  his  dislike  for  the  negro.  (That  this 
feeling  is  not  so  acute  with  the  Southern  European 
as  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  true,  but  is  probably 
the  result  of  Roman  Catholicism  rather  than  of  any 
difference  in  instincts.) 

The  more  desperate  remedies  may,  we  think,  be 
put  quietly  aside  as  practically  out  of  the  question. 
M.  de  Tocqueville  evidently  thought  the  extirpation 
of  the  negro  quite  possible  ; but  he  expected  it  as 
the  result  of  a Haytian  rising,  and  gained  his  expe- 
rience when  the  negroes  were  slaves  and  less  than 
three  millions  in  number.  The  extirpation  of  seven 
millions  of  free  men,  still  more  of  twenty  millions,  is 
only  a dream,  and  one  which,  even  if  a servile  war 
broke  out,  Americans  would  refuse  to  realize.  They 
would  not  attempt  it,  whatever  the  consequences. 
Expulsion  is  a gentler  method  ; but  it  is  very  doubt- 
ful if  the  negroes  would  consent  to  be  expelled,  and 
perfectly  certain  that  such  a movement,  executed  as 
an  act  of  violence,  would  be  beyond  the  power  of 


368 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


any  nation.  The  shattering  of  all  labour  relations 
would  of  itself  involve  ruin  too  complete  for  the 
generation  which  had  to  bear  it.  Besides,  where 
are  the  negroes  to  go  ? “The  islands,”  perhaps, 
might  hold  them  ; but  the  larger  islands,  Cuba  only 
partially  excepted,  do  not  belong  to  the  Union  ; and 
for  Americans  to  waste  a generation  in  forcibly  ex- 
porting 250,000  negroes  a year,  and  providing  for 
them  when  exported  till  they  could  settle  as  peasants, 
is  inconceivable.  Mexico  will  not  take  them,  and  a 
proposal  to  give  them  four  or  five  of  the  Southern 
States,  and  so  purify  the  remainder,  would  probably 
provoke  another  civil  war,  besides  leaving  the  prob- 
lem only  half  solved. 

No  one  can  predict  the  future,  but  our  own  im- 
pression as  historians  is  very  strong  that  no  com- 
plete solution  of  the  negro  question  is  to  be  expected. 
It  will  remain  unsolved,  like  the  Irish  question,  and 
the  Polish  question,  and  the  Socialist  question,  and 
many  another,  for  generations — never  quite  unman- 
ageable, but  always  a source  of  trouble  to  the  nation 
and  a source  of  vexation  to  those  who  believe,  in 
the  teeth  of  experience,  that  for  every  evil  there  is 
a remedy.  The  negroes  will  throw  up  from  time  to 
time  persons  so  exceptionally  intelligent  that  hope 
among  all  who  watch  them  will  revive  ; but  the  ma- 
jority even  with  a tincture  of  education  will  remain, 
as  the  French  peasantry  remained  for  centuries, 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water — an  inferior 
proletariat,  usually  quiescent,  and  always  productive 


THE  NEGRO  PROBLEM  IN  AMERICA  369 


of  other  men’s  wealth,  but  liable  at  times  to  burst 
out  in  jacqueries  and  to  swell  the  undying  yet 
seldom  successful  army  of  the  discontented.  The 
greater  numbers  will  probably  become  peasants, 
slowly  acquiring  the  land  and  living  on  it  in  a poor 
but  continuous  way,  making  customs  for  themselves 
which,  as  in  Asia,  will  have  the  force  of  laws,  as  all 
the  dark  races  hitherto  have  done,  whether  governed 
by  soldiers  or  by  an  irresistible  white  caste.  It  is 
not  a glowing  prospect,  but  then  glowing  prospects 
are  usually  imaginary;  and  Americans,  irresistible 
as  their  strength  may  become  and  mighty  as  their 
collective  prosperity  will  undoubtedly  be,  cannot 
hope  to  escape  the  internal  troubles  which  have 
hampered,  and  to  a certain  degree  trained,  every 
other  people.  Long  habit  will  teach  them  what  to 
do  and  what  to  avoid,  but  it  will  not  alter  the  con- 
ditions, the  first  of  which  as  regards  the  negroes  is 
that  a few  among  them  have  in  them  the  power  to 
become  the  equals  of  any  men  ; but  that  to  raise  the 
mass,  say,  to  the  mental  position  of  the  races  of 
Upper  India,  will  take  many  centuries  of  patience 
and  exertion.  Nothing  that  man  can  do  will  acce- 
lerate the  process,  and  to  the  Providence  of  God, 
time,  as  men  count  time,  is  clearly  nothing.  Con- 
fucius died  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago 
and  we  have  still  only  the  Chinese. 


B B 


The  Minds  of  Savages 

WE  do  not  yet  know  all  there  is  to  be  known 
about  the  earliest  savage  life  of  which  we 
have  any  proof.  We  can  trace  with  some  approach 
to  accuracy  the  mode  of  life  in  the  Bronze  Age, 
and  even  in  the  Stone  Age  ; but  we  know  but 
little  of  the  minds  of  the  men  who  lived  then,  of 
the  extent  or  limits  of  their  knowledge,  or  of  the 
powers  of  thought  which  they  possessed.  It  is 
quite  possible  that,  as  regards  the  latter,  we  habitu- 
ally underrate  them.  No  less  than  three  distinct 
and  perceptible  influences  tend  to  make  modern 
observers  sceptical,  or  even  contemptuous,  as  to 
the  intellectual  powers  of  savages.  Civilization, 
to  begin  with,  of  itself  produces  scorn,  often  an 
overweening  scorn,  for  barbarism,  and  especially 
barbarism  of  the  rougher,  or,  to  speak  more  de- 
finitely, the  hunting  type.  It  seems  to  the  dweller 
in  Paris  or  London,  himself  cultivated  till  he  hardly 
knows  what  in  him  is  natural  and  what  acquired, 
as  if  the  savage  who  faces  the  weather  naked, 
who  lives  in  a cave  on  the  side  of  a hill,  and  who 
grows  nothing,  could  hardly  have  a mind  at  all. 

370 


THE  MINDS  OF  SAVAGES 


37i 


If  he  had  one,  why  did  he  not  make  himself 
comfortable,  build  a hut,  grow  corn,  and,  above  all, 
put  on  clothes  ? Then  there  is  just  now  an  uncon- 
scious wish  among  most  scientific  men  to  prove 
the  truth  of  evolution  by  showing  that  man  was 
once  mentally  of  a very  low  type,  and  thus  to 
diminish  the  gulf,  otherwise  so  impassable,  which 
separates  him  from  the  animal  world.  If  they 
could  only  prove  that  he  was  once  incapable  not 
only  of  expressing,  but  of  forming  an  abstract  idea, 
they  would  secretly  be  all  delighted.  And,  thirdly, 
a system  has  grown  up  of  interpreting  one  race 
of  savages  by  another  which  directly  tends  to  lower 
our  judgement  of  the  powers  of  all.  The  philo- 
sophers know  with  a certain  intimacy  one  class 
of  savages,  the  Negroids  of  the  Australasian  Pacific, 
in  whom  mental  power  is  extraordinarily  small  ; 
and  because  they  live  much  as  European  savages 
lived,  they  assume  that  both  must  have  reached 
about  the  same  mental  standard.  Yet  in  a thou- 
sand years,  the  relics  remaining  of  the  fishermen 
of  Devon  and  those  remaining  of  the  clam-eaters 
of  the  Australian  coast  will  be  almost  indistinguish- 
able. It  is  at  least  equally  possible  that  the 
differences  produced  by  what  we  call  race  were  as 
pronounced  in  the  Stone  Age  as  they  are  now, 
that  the  minds  of  whole  tribes  may  have  been  as 
separate  as  the  minds  of  nations  now  are,  and  that 
mental  capacity  may  in  some  races  and  under  some 
circumstances  have  reached  a higher  level  than  we 


372 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


fancy,  before  man  devoted  his  powers  to  becoming 
comfortable  at  all.  A naked  troglodyte  Newton 
maybe  unthinkable,  because  the  word  “Newton” 
embodies  certain  moral  qualities ; but  a naked 
troglodyte  philosopher  or  student  of  physics  is  not 
unthinkable  at  all.  Diogenes,  according  to  the 
legend,  nearly  was  one  ; and  a Jain  teacher  pro- 
bably exists  who  would  puzzle  most  undergraduates, 
and  who  lives  naked  in  a mat  hut.  While  caves 
were  warm  and  easily  made,  there  was  in  Europe 
little  reason  to  build  huts ; the  notion  of  growing 
cereals  probably  came  late,  for  no  beast  plants 
them,  and  the  idea  that  a seed  will  grow  if  you 
bury  it,  must  without  experience  have  seemed  hope- 
lessly wild ; and  as  to  clothes,  whole  races  still 
think  them  an  almost  unendurable  restraint  and 
burthen.  A negro,  or  an  Australian,  or  a Kaffir 
of  Dr.  Moffatt’s  country,  even  when  semi-civilized, 
is  conscious  of  an  almost  irresistible  impulse  to 
throw  his  clothes  away,  and  restore  himself  to  his 
original  liberty  of  motion.  If  mind  in  the  Stone 
Age  of  Europe  had  not  advanced  beyond  its  pre- 
sent level  among  Melanesians,  how  are  we  to 
account  for  facts  such  as  those  detailed  by 
Mr.  Horsley  at  the  Royal  Institution  in  a lecture  ? 
The  ignorance  of  the  darker  savages  of  to-day  of 
almost  all  operations  of  surgery,  is  absolutely 
marvellous  ; yet  Mr.  Horsley  showed  on  conclusive 
evidence  that  in  France,  savages  who  used  only 
stone,  dwelt  in  caves,  and  probably  had  no  idea 


THE  MINDS  OF  SAVAGES 


373 


of  clothes,  constantly  performed  the  delicate  opera- 
tion on  the  skull  called  trephining,  or,  as  it  used 
to  be  called  by  the  unlearned,  trepanning.  They 
cut  and  raised  the  fractured  bone  of  the  skull 
successfully.  No  less  than  sixty  skulls  and  frag- 
ments of  skulls  upon  which  this  operation  has  been 
performed  exist  in  the  museums  of  France,  and 
it  is  clear  that  it  was  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  frequently  practised.  Mr.  Horsley,  finding 
that  the  fracture  was  almost  always  on  the  vertex 
of  the  skull,  suggests  that  it  produced  epilepsy, 
and  that  trephining  was  performed  to  prevent  this 
result,  as  well  as  to  alleviate  frightful  headaches  ; 
but  there  is  another  possible  explanation.  The 
regular  tribal  or  household  punishment  may  have 
been  a downright  blow  on  the  skull  with  a thick 
club,  a punishment  selected  because  it  precludes 
resistance  to  the  decree  on  the  part  of  the  victim. 
It  is  still  regularly  inflicted  among  Australians,  the 
victim  being  stunned  by  a cracking  blow  down- 
wards on  the  skull  with  the  short  club  known  as 
the  “ waddy.”  As  the  strikers  did  not  intend 
death,  and  as  it  was  inconvenient  that  a mere 
secondary  punishment  should  produce  either  death 
or  idiotcy,  a practice  of  cutting  and  raising  the 
fractured  bones  grew  up  and  gradually  became  a 
known  art,  probably  practised  by  the  medicine-men, 
or  priests,  or  other  officials  of  the  tribe.  Whatever 
the  motive,  the  fact  is  certain,  and  indicates  that 
the  savages  who  learned  such  an  art  were  men 


374 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


who  could  pity — for  no  man  can  trephine  his  own 
skull — who  could  understand  cause  and  effect,  and 
who  could  learn  from  repeated  experience  almost 
as  well  as  we  can.  A mental  chasm,  the  bridge 
over  which  is  nearly  inconceivable,  separated  them 
from  the  animals. 

It  is  quite  possible,  of  course,  that  the  knowledge 
of  this  art  of  trephining,  and  of  many  others,  was 
confined  to  a very  few.  In  spite  of  much  that 
we  see  around  us  every  day — kill  out  a picked  ten 
per  cent,  of  Englishmen,  and  where  would  English 
civilization  be  ? — we  all  are  accustomed  to  doubt, 
or  perhaps  forget,  how  easily  a comparatively 
cultured  clan  may  arise  amidst  a nearly  complete 
savagery  around.  We  know  this  to  have  been 
the  case  in  civilizations  like  the  Egyptian  and  the 
Mexican,  and  it  is  the  only  presumption  which 
reconciles  the  otherwise  conflicting  facts  of  the 
earlier  history  of  Ireland  and  Western  Scotland, 
where  great  ecclesiastics  and  scholars  went  out  from 
the  midst  of  kerns  as  savage  as  the  Maories  of 
to-day.  It  is  at  least  as  possible  that  a caste  knew 
the  mystery  of  trephining  as  that  a tribe  did.  That 
is  a point  which  will  probably  never  be  determined, 
for  it  is  one  where  we  encounter  the  grand  diffi- 
culty of  early  history, — the  imperfection  of  its 
means  of  record.  Until  writing  was  invented,  the 
record  of  an  idea  was  almost  a physical  impossi- 
bility, except  so  far  as  subsequent  observers  may 
deduce  it  from  a fact.  If,  for  instance,  we  find 


THE  MINDS  OF  SAVAGES 


375 


sacrificial  stones,  knives,  and  relics  of  victims,  we 
may  safely  infer  that  those  who  built  the  altars, 
made  the  knives,  and  slew  the  victims,  believed 
in  invisible  beings  or  forces  who  would  be  either 
reverenced  or  propitiated  by  offerings.  But  that 
deduction  gives  us  scarcely  a clue  to  the  idea 
entertained  by  that  tribe  of  what  we  call  religion. 
Its  God  may  have  been  Jehovah,  as  he  appeared 
to  Abraham,  or  Huitzilopochtli,  as  he  appeared  to 
Mexicans ; and  they  may  have  believed  in  a future 
state,  as  all  Red  Indians  do,  or  have  disbelieved 
in  it,  as  up  to  the  Captivity  all  but  the  higher 
Israelitish  minds  probably  did.  Or  the  sacrifices 
may  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  people  at 
all,  but  have  belonged  exclusively  to  a minute 
caste,  embedded  among  them  as  Englishmen  are 
embedded  among  Indians.  All  deductions  as  to 
the  religion  of  Calcutta  from  Calcutta  Cathedral 
made  two  thousand  years  hence  would  be  essenti- 
ally wrong.  Of  laws  or  civil  polity  it  is  nearly 
impossible  that  any  trace  should  survive,  or  of  any 
knowledge  not  requiring  imperishable  instruments. 
We  may  deduce  a knowledge  of  commerce  from 
certain  things  discovered, — for  instance,  we  know 
from  coins  found  in  tombs  that  very  early  Norsemen 
traded  with  Rome  ; but  without  writing,  we  could 
not  have  a record  of  the  knowledge  of  medicine 
as  distinguished  from  surgery.  There  is  evidence 
of  a sort  that  the  early  Scandinavian  fighters 
understood  the  brain-maddening  power  of  hemp, 


376 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


and  used  it  before  going  into  battle ; but  they  may 
have  known  fifty  other  potent  drugs,  and  their 
knowledge  could  not  be  recorded.  The  Stone  Age 
savages  may  have  observed  astronomical  facts  as 
closely  as  the  Chaldaeans  ; but  all  record  of  their 
knowledge,  if  they  possessed  any,  has  passed  away 
as  completely  as  all  knowledge  of  the  Chaldaean 
processes,  or  of  the  extraordinary  accident,  or  series 
of  accidents,  or  induction  which  led  to  the  discovery 
by  the  lowest  of  savages  of  the  most  scientific  and 
unexpected  of  all  weapons,  the  Australian  boome- 
rang. As  Mr.  Horsley  says,  we  know  that  the 
savages  of  France  possessed  caves,  because  there 
they  are ; but  if  they  had  possessed  also  perishable 
houses,  they  would  have  passed  away.  Extinguish 
writing,  and  if  the  English  quitted  India,  there 
would  in  five  thousand  years  be  no  evidence  what- 
ever that  they  were  ever  there,  except,  indeed, 
imperishable  fragments  of  broken  beer-bottles. 
Nothing  that  they  have  built  would  resist  natural 
forces  for  a century ; and  how  would  their  dis- 
tinctive ideas  of  justice,  mercy,  and  the  supremacy 
of  law,  be  made  visible  to  their  successors  ? The 
truth  is,  evidence  as  to  a long-past  cycle  must, 
in  the  absence  of  writing,  be  hopelessly  imperfect ; 
and  we  may,  as  regards  any  particular  tribe, 
unfairly  depreciate  its  mental  standpoint  through  our 
own  ignorance.  If  we  examined  the  “ traces  ” of 
the  monks  of  the  Thebaid  as  we  examine  those 
of  savages,  what  should  we  deduce  ? That  certain 


THE  MINDS  OF  SAVAGES 


377 


persons,  sex  unknown,  probably  pagans,  and 
certainly  uncivilized,  constructed  certain  cells,  and 
probably  lived  in  them.  The  theory  that  they 
were  fishers  in  the  river,  about  as  high  in  the 
mental  scale  as  Aleutians,  would  explain  the  visible 
facts  just  as  completely  as  the  truth. 


The  Progress  of  Savage  Races 

WE  wish  Sir  John  Lubbock,  or  some  other  man 
with  the  necessary  knowledge  and  lucidity 
of  expression,  would  deliver  a special  lecture  on  the 
rate  of  savage  progress.  He  might  be  able  in  the 
course  of  it  to  resolve  one  or  two  problems  pre- 
sented by  savage  life  which  are,  to  us  at  least,  grave 
perplexities,  weakening  the  hold  on  us  of  the  general 
theory  of  progress.  Sir  John  holds,  as  we  under- 
stand his  writings  and  his  abominably  reported  lec- 
ture on  the  subject  at  Toynbee  Hall,  not  only  that 
some  savages  have  progressed,  which  is  past  ques- 
tion, many  people,  now  civilized  being  the  descend- 
ants of  true  savages,  but  that  all  savages,  like  the 
rest  of  mankind,  tend  to  progress.  Now,  is  that 
quite  true,  or  being  true,  is  the  rate  of  progress  such 
that  man  has  any  right  to  hope  that  savages  will, 
during  any  period  about  which  it  is  profitable  to 
speculate,  become  civilized  human  beings  ? Sir 
John  Lubbock  tells  us  that  modern  savages  are 
not  like  primitive  savages,  modern  savages  having 
placed  themselves  in  many  cases  under  the  yoke  of 
elaborate  and  complex  customs  which  are  signs  in 

378 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  SAVAGE  RACES  379 


their  way  of  progress.  We  suppose  the  deduction 
is  true,  for  though  civilized  man  shows  a tendency 
to  abandon  custom,  or  to  hold  it  lightly,  semi- 
civilized  man  clings  to  it  as  his  sheet-anchor,  the 
Chinese,  for  instance,  obeying  certain  rules  with  a 
rigidity  equal  to  that  of  the  modern  savage.  If, 
therefore,  the  Chinese  were  ever  savages,  which  on 
the  theory  is  certain,  their  devotion  to  rigid  custom 
is  either  a sign  of  progress  or  a corollary  of  it.  It 
is  not  a sign  of  rapid  progress,  devotion  to  custom 
being  merely  a rude  way  of  preserving  the  accu- 
mulated result  of  experience  or  the  ideas  held  to  be 
true  ; but  still,  it  is  a sign  of  advance  beyond  the 
true  childlike  stage.  The  Chinese  certainly  have 
progressed,  and  as  certainly  are  custom-worshippers. 
But  why  is  Sir  John  Lubbock  so  sure  of  his  datum 
that  primitive  savages  were  less  under  the  yoke  of 
custom  than  modern  savages  are  ? How  do  we 
know  what  savages  were  like  in  those  early  times, 
when  observers  could  distinguish  nothing  except  the 
broadest  facts,  and  travellers  described  a savage 
tribe  much  as  English  sailors  would  now  ? May 
not  an  aboriginal  race  of  b.c.  2000  have  been 
governed  by  a clan  system  as  elaborate  as  that  of 
Australia,  no  trace  of  which  has  come  down  to  us  ? 
It  is  not  likely ; but  the  wisest  know  nothing  about 
it,  and  in  building  a theory  on  primitive  absence  of 
restraint,  we  are  building  in  reality  on  a plausible 
assumption.  Then  is  it  clear  that  the  progress,  if 
there  is  progress,  goes  on  at  a rate  which  affords  any 


38° 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


hope  of  great  advance  during  the  lifetime  of  man 
upon  the  planet  ? Take  Sir  John’s  Australians,  for 
example.  He  knows  better  than  we  do  the  nearly 
irresistible  evidence  which  exists — and  was  published 
some  six  years  ago — for  the  antiquity  of  the  Austra- 
lian aborigines.  Either  the  mounds  of  clam  shells  on 
his  coast  were  put  there  by  some  tricksy  spirit  intent 
on  deceiving  savants , or  the  native  must  have  lived 
where  the  mounds  are,  fishing  and  eating,  breeding 
and  dying,  for  some  thousands  of  years.  If  that 
savage  has  progressed,  why  has  his  progress  been  so 
purposeless,  or  his  rate  of  progress  differed  so  much 
from  the  rate  recorded  in  European  and  Asiatic 
annals  ? To  all  appearance,  he  would  not  become 
civilized  at  that  rate  in  scores  of  thousands  of  years, 
and  why  should  he  become  civilized  at  all  ? Because 
there  is  a law  of  progress  ? Well,  grant  it  as 
regards  certain  races,  where  is  the  positive  evidence 
of  it  as  regards  others  ? May  not  the  Veddahs  be 
old  ? It  is  difficult  to  argue  without  going  behind 
history ; but  does  Sir  John  Lubbock  see  proof, 
unquestioned  proof  we  mean,  that  the  black  races 
of  Africa  have  progressed — except,  of  course,  under 
conquest — throughout  the  history  of  man  ? As  it 
seems  to  us,  there  are  grounds  for  the  belief  that 
they  have  not,  that  the  law  of  progress  as  regards 
the  Negro  is  either  non-existent  or  dependent  upon 
this, — that  he  shall  come  in  contact  with  some 
more  progressive  and  more  vigorous  of  the  tribes 
of  men.  The  Arab,  who  gives  him  Mahommed- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  SAVAGE  RACES  381 


anism,  improves  him,  and  so  does  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  who  gives  him  Christianity ; but  left  to 
himself,  the  Negro,  to  the  human  eye,  remains 
where  he  was,  or,  as  in  Hayti,  retrogrades.  It  is 
distinct  retrogression,  and  not  mere  pause,  for  a 
race  which  had  abandoned  cannibalism  to  go  back 
to  it ; and  Vaudooism  is  at  least  as  low  as  fetishism. 
We  do  not  see  in  the  Negro  the  operation  of  any 
self-generated  law  of  progress,  or  in  the  Red  Indian. 
It  may  be  there;  but  where  is  the  proof  of  it  so 
strong  that  we  should  build  on  it  a theory  of  the 
world  ? We  wish  to  believe  in  permanent  progress 
and  self-generated  progress,  for  that  would  make 
many  theological  difficulties  much  less  ; but  as  yet 
the  facts  seem  to  show  that  two  or  three  families  of 
men,  notably  the  Aryan,  Arab,  and  Mongol,  have 
advanced  up  to  a point — a point  in  the  Aryan’s 
case  still  susceptible  of  further  progress — and  have 
compelled  or  persuaded  other  families  to  advance 
with  them  ; but  that  these  others,  if  left  alone,  either 
do  not  advance,  or  advance  by  gradations  so  like 
those  of  glaciers  that  the  historian  cannot  follow 
them,  and  that  the  observer  has  little  right  to  be 
certain  that  they  occur  at  all.  There  are  black 
tribes  in  the  Upper  Valley  of  the  Nile,  described 
by  the  surgeon  Werne,  who  certainly  are  no  advance 
on  the  blameless  Ethiopians  of  whom  the  Greeks 
knew,  or  thought  they  knew.  It  may  be  that  con- 
ditions have  been  unfavourable  ; but  then,  that 
answer  is  an  answer  also  to  the  general  theory  of 


382 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


progress,  which  ought  to  be  possible  under  any 
conditions  not  fatal  to  human  life.  Besides,  what 
are  the  conditions  which  make  Tasmania,  with  its 
English  climate,  so  unfavourable  to  progress,  that 
while  the  Piet  developed  into  a civilized  man,  the 
Tasmanian  did  not  develop  at  all,  but  remained 
always  a little  higher  than  the  monkey,  till  God  in 
His  mercy  ended  the  effort  and  his  race? 

It  seems  to  us  that  modern  cheeriness  has  slightly 
infected  scientific  men,  and  that  in  their  eager  hope 
to  show  that  natural  science  presages  a great  future 
for  man,  they  leave  out  of  view  some  unpleasant 
facts  which  militate  against  their  theory.  They 
take  time  into  their  account  at  one  point,  and  not 
at  another.  They  will  assert  that  the  development 
of  man  from  a monkey,  or  a reptile,  or  whatever  is 
the  latest  theory  about  his  ancestor,  must  have  occu- 
pied cycles  of  centuries,  and  that  cycles  more  passed 
before  man  could  use  tools  or  make  fire  ; and  then 
they  expect,  or  write  as  if  they  expected,  another 
enormous  advance  within  some  trumpery  period 
marked  in  recorded  history, — for  example,  some  two 
or  three  thousand  years.  Why  ? Where  is  the 
evidence  that  the  man  of  the  Niger  would  not  take 
a million  or  so  of  years  before  he,  unassisted, 
attained  to  civilization,  especially  if  he  passed 
through  that  period  of  “ arrestment  ” which  has 
certainly  struck  some  races,  and  the  duration  of 
which  is  as  uncertain  as  the  duration  of  the  world  ? 
Scientific  men  are  conscious  of  the  greatest  of  the 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  SAVAGE  RACES  3S3 


marvels  of  the  universe,  the  astounding  way  in 
which  productive  or  creative  energy  is  wasted, 
generations  of  creatures  perishing  uselessly  before 
the  creature  to  survive  is  born,  and  forests  decaying 
that  a few  trees  may  live  ; but  they  seem  unwilling 
to  expect  such  waste  of  men.  Why  not?  Is  it 
because  of  the  value  of  sentient  beings  in  the 
economy  of  the  universe  ? If  humanity  all  perished 
to-morrow  through  some  vast  calamity,  say,  by  the 
emission  from  all  volcanic  regions  of  some  poisonous 
vapour — a thing  believed  to  have  occurred  on  a 
minute  scale — the  loss  would  be  far  less  than  the 
loss  of  babies  which  has  occurred  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world,  and  would  be  less,  indeed,  than 
the  loss  of  stillborn  children  only.  If  Nature,  or 
Law,  or  Providence  can  afford  to  waste  human 
beings,  even  Aryan  beings,  at  that  prodigious  rate, 
why  should  it  not  waste  whole  races  of  savages  ? 
It  has  wasted  two  within  quite  a short  period,  the 
Caribs  of  Cuba  and  the  Tasmanians  ; and  it  is 
wasting  two  more  quite  visibly,  the  Australians  of 
the  mainland  and  the  Maories.  Why  should  it  not 
waste  the  remainder,  leaving  the  world  altogether 
to  men  of  some  higher  type,  or  other  type,  as  has 
happened  with  some  animals  ? We  do  not  see,  we 
confess,  though  we  wish  to  see,  why,  on  the  scien- 
tific theory  of  the  universe,  we  should  expect  so 
much  progress  in  savages,  or  why  a Digger  Indian, 
say,  should  gradually  advance  until  he  can  count 
up  to  the  numbers  which  astronomers  are  accus- 


3§4 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


tomed  to  use.  Why  should  he  not  perish,  or,  if 
his  vitality  is  strong,  as  is  the  case  with  some  Negro 
tribes,  why  should  he  not  survive  as  a kind  of  half- 
developed  man  ? He  has  done  so  for  ages  in  Aus- 
tralia, and  why  should  the  ages  end  ? We  can  see 
a hope  for  him  in  the  Christian  theory,  which 
assigns  to  the  Negro,  as  to  Newton,  two  lives  ; 
but  on  the  scientific  one,  we  see  nothing  for  him, 
if  he  remains  unconquered  and  of  unmixed  blood, 
except  a doubtful  probability  of  advance  at  a rate 
which  the  human  mind  can  scarcely  discern,  and 
which,  as  a factor  in  history,  it  is  useless  even  to 
consider.  Judged  by  Christianity,  the  savage  has 
a future  ; but  judged  by  history  and  science,  the 
best  thing  that  could  happen  to  him  would  be  to 
disappear  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  make  room 
for  the  useful  peoples,  who  two  centuries  hence  will 
have  scarcely  room  to  breathe. 


The  Contempt  of  Asia  for  Europe 

HE  contempt  of  Asiatics  for  Europeans  is  a 


little  difficult  to  understand  and  most  difficult 
to  explain.  Their  hatred  is  natural  enough,  for  the 
European  is  usually  a conqueror,  and  always  an 
intruder  who  threatens  to  disturb  the  mode  of  life 
which  they  think  at  once  obligatory  and  delightful  ; 
but  their  contempt  seems  unreasonable  or  even 
absurd.  It  does  not  spring  from  want  of  respect  as 
we  commonly  understand  that  word.  The  Asiatic 
usually  acknowledges  the  European  to  be  his 
superior,  and  this  not  only  in  physical  power,  but 
in  many  departments  of  life  which  require  thought. 
He  does  not  question,  for  instance,  that  the  white 
man  is  his  superior  in  science,  or  in  the  military 
art,  or  in  medicine,  or  in  those  branches  of  know- 
ledge which  require,  like  astronomy  for  example, 
careful  observation.  He  never  dreams  of  rivalling 
him  as  a mechanician,  and  has  doubts,  only  doubts, 
of  his  own  comparative  capacity  as  an  engineer. 
He  will  even  allow  that  he  is  a thinker  of  a sort, 
and  has  virtues  of  a kind,  and  can  rule  in  a way, 
especially  as  regards  taxation,  to  which  he  himself 


385 


c c 


386 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


makes  no  pretension.  Nevertheless,  he  regards 
the  European  as  a barbarian,  wanting  in  the 
essentials  of  civilization,  and  inferior  to  himself 
from  sheer  deficiency  of  brain-power.  This  feeling 
is  the  more  remarkable  because  it  is  not  based,  like 
the  scorn  of  the  Greek  for  the  Roman,  which  in 
some  degree  resembled  it,  upon  any  actual  superi- 
ority. In  all  but  the  capacity  of  ruling — of  course, 
a magnificent  exception — in  thought,  in  poetry,  in 
art,  in  all  the  faculties  which  might  ultimately  have 
developed  scientific  attainment,  the  Roman  was  the 
inferior  of  the  Greek,  and  knew  it  so  well  that  the 
more  cultivated  he  grew  the  more  he  became 
“ Grecised,”  until  in  the  Western  Empire  he 
merged  his  own  civilization  in  that  of  his  subject, 
and  became  in  all  essentials  a Greek.  It  is  probable, 
too,  that  the  surrender  improved  him,  and  that 
during  the  first  six  centuries  of  its  existence 
Constantinople  was  more  civilized,  in  the  modern 
sense,  than  old  Rome  ever  became.  The  Asiatic 
has  not  that  justification  for  his  scorn,  yet  no  one 
who  has  penetrated  even  a little  into  the  true  life  of 
the  East  doubts  that  he  feels  it,  and  this  so  strongly 
as  to  make  of  his  own  submissiveness  a source  of 
self-contempt  which  gives  energy  and  edge  to  his 
vengeance  when  he  has  once  risen  in  revolt.  He 
holds  his  master,  in  fact,  to  be  a dense  person  who, 
as  a rule,  cannot  be  resisted,  but  who  can  always  be 
outwitted,  deceived,  guided  into  a path  on  which 
he  does  not  wish  to  tread.  Why  is  that  ? Why, 


THE  CONTEMPT  OF  ASIA  FOR  EUROPE  387 


for  instance,  does  the  Hindoo  or  the  Chinaman,  or 
in  a lesser  degree  the  Turk,  always  fancy  that  he 
can  lie  to  the  European  without  detection  and  with- 
out consequences,  that  if  force  is  eliminated  from 
the  struggle  he  will  not  only  win,  but  win  with  a 
certain  ease  and  absence  of  exertion  ? 

We  believe  that  the  serious  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion is  the  one  which  the  European,  judging  as  he 
always  does  by  the  concrete  results,  never  will 
accept.  The  Asiatic  has  of  the  two  the  brighter 
intelligence.  He  is  the  more  quickwitted,  especially 
in  reading  character  ; he  anticipates  his  interlocutor’s 
thought  more  rapidly,  he  invents  with  far  more 
ingenuity,  and  he  is  more  capable  of  purely  abstract 
reasoning.  He,  not  the  white  man,  thought  out 
and  founded  all  the  successful  creeds.  When  he 
condescends  to  discuss,  or  dares  discuss  frankly, 
which  is  very  seldom,  he  is  the  philosopher  talking 
with  the  average  and  slightly  stupid  man.  He 
perceives  this  himself,  all  the  more  keenly  because 
the  perception  is  of  little  use  to  him,  and  he  has 
usually  to  give  way.  He  is  like  a clever  woman 
talking  to  an  ordinary  man,  arriving  at  conclusions 
by  intuition  rather  than  thought,  seeing  before  the 
man  has  begun  to  open  his  eyes,  and  as  a result  in- 
dulging in  a thin  scorn  which  does  not  produce 
resistance,  but  does  produce  a bitterness,  gentle 
enough  in  the  woman  if  she  is  womanly,  but  not 
gentle  in  the  Asiatic.  This  is  the  main  cause  of 
the  contempt,  the  underlying  root  from  which  it 


388 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


springs,  but  there  are  other  subsidiary  causes  of 
much  efficacy.  One  is  that  the  manners  of  the 
European  always  strike  the  Asiatic  as  plebeian.  He 
expects  in  an  equal  or  superior  a kind  of  smooth- 
ness which  few  Europeans  possess,  and  which  they 
never  display  in  their  intercourse  with  the  coloured 
races,  whose  want  of  frankness,  and  tendency  to  be 
deferential,  and  general  failure  to  secure  the  results 
which  Europe  desires,  slightly  irritate  them.  The 
Asiatic  thinks  that  want  of  frankness  essential  to 
politeness,  is  always  reserved  unless  he  intends  to 
be  insolent,  and  looks  upon  familiarity,  especially  if 
there  is  any  difference  of  grade,  as  offensive,  pre- 
suming, and,  in  a word,  rude.  Very  few  Europeans 
appear  to  him  to  be  gentlemen,  and  those  few  only 
when  they  are  not  familiar.  The  European’s  laugh, 
in  especial,  is  to  him  as  disagreeable  as  the  laugh 
of  the  uncultivated  is  to  the  refined  European,  and 
European  “chaff,”  persiflage,  humour,  is  to  him 
absolutely  unendurable.  It  is,  he  thinks,  the  very 
quintessence  of  vulgarity,  and  reminds  him  perpetu- 
ally that  he  is  being  civil  or  submissive  to  one  who 
is  essentially,  when  the  mask  is  off,  a barbarian. 
This  feeling,  which  is  universal  and  incurable, 
greatly  increases  his  sense  of  his  opponent’s 
stupidity,  which  again  is  deepened  by  his  percep- 
tion that  the  opponent  is  fettered  in  using  his 
intellect  by  all  manner  of  non-intellectual  restrictions, 
is  apt,  for  example,  to  resent  a cruel  or  immoral 
suggestion,  does  not  employ  falsehood  when  false- 


THE  CONTEMPT  OF  ASIA  FOR  EUROPE  389 


hood  clearly  would  be  convenient,  and  does  not 
detect  falsehood  if  it  is  plausible  as  a quick-witted 
man  should.  Long  observation  has  convinced  us 
that  the  Asiatic  who  lies  to  the  European  despises 
the  European  so  much  for  accepting  the  falsehood 
that  he  often  out  of  sheer  contempt  makes  his 
falsehood  less  artistic  than  he  could.  Anything,  he 
thinks,  will  do  for  a mind  so  dense  as  that.  He  is 
vexed,  too,  when  his  lie  is  too  roughly  exposed, 
vexed  not,  as  an  ordinary  European  is,  because  he 
has  been  detected,  but  as  a diplomatist  is  vexed 
when  his  smooth  arguments  are  not  put  aside  as 
smoothly.  He  ought  not  to  be  told  that  he  is  lying, 
but  only  to  be  shown  as  lightly  as  may  be  that  the 
falsehood  has  not  succeeded.  Any  other  conduct 
he  classes  as  the  result  of  ill-mannered,  not  to  say 
brutal,  stupidity,  and  despises  in  his  heart  as  the 
gentleman  despises  the  scolding  of  the  rough.  So 
likewise  he  despises  the  European’s  liability  to 
“ lose  his  temper  ” without  getting  into  a rage. 
The  Asiatic  can  feel  rage,  and  display  it  too,  but 
“ bad  temper,”  which  is  much  commoner  among 
Europeans  than  they  think,  disgusts  and  offends 
him  as  a mark  of  barbarian  want  of  self-control.  If 
the  bad  temper  lasts,  and  induces  the  European,  as 
it  often  does,  to  take  the  bit  in  his  teeth  and  act  in 
defiance  of  remonstrance,  the  Asiatic  “bows  low 
before  the  blast,”  but  it  is  verily  “ in  patient,  deep 
disdain,”  as  of  a diplomatist  who  is  dealing  with 
some  half-savage  whom  he  cannot  for  the  moment 


39° 


ASIA  AND  EUROPE 


control.  Talleyrand  always  regarded  Napoleon  in 
that  light. 

Behind  all  these  feelings  there  remains  the  mutual 
unintelligibility,  which  produces  contempt  in  the 
Asiatic  as  it  produces  it  also  in  the  European.  We 
are  all  apt  to  despise  what  we  do  not  understand, 
and  some  invisible  but  impassable  barrier  arrests 
perfect  comprehension  between  the  East  and  West. 
The  European  familiar  with  the  East  always  recog- 
nizes this  source  of  error  in  himself,  and  sometimes 
tries  to  overcome  it,  declaring  with  a sigh  that  the 
Eastern  is  always  a sealed  book,  but  he  seldom 
recognizes  also  that  for  the  same  reason  the  Asiatic 
despises  him.  His  innate  pride,  and  that  supreme 
self-confidence  which  Asia  has  lost  in  the  ages,  but 
which  modern  Europe  is  still  too  young  to  lose— 
we  were  tattooed  savages  when  the  East  was  just 
beginning  to  decay  from  age — prevents  the  thought 
from  growing  into  a conviction,  but  nevertheless  it 
is  well  founded.  The  Asiatic  often  watches  the 
“ antics  ” of  the  European  as  we  watch  those  of 
animals,  with  a sense  of  amusement  which  has  no 
other  explanation  than  that  he  does  not  understand. 
How  can  he,  when  to  each  other  the  two  are  so 
nearly  dumb  ? The  clearness  of  the  European’s 
brain  never  tells  him  when  the  revolt  of  the  Asiatic 
is  near  at  hand,  and  all  the  subtlety  of  the  Asiatic 
never  tells  him  when  a threat  will  make  the 
European  halt,  and  when  it  will  pass  him  like  the 
idle  wind.  Nothing,  to  use  the  best  known  illustra- 


THE  CONTEMPT  OF  ASIA  FOR  EUROPE  391 


tion,  will  ever  convince  the  average  European  that 
the  religion  of  the  Asiatic,  which  governs  the  habits 
of  his  life,  though  not  his  whole  conduct,  is  anything 
but  tomfoolery  ; and  nothing  will  convince  the 
average  Asiatic  that  a European  has  any  religion 
at  all  worthy  of  the  name.  The  one  despises  the 
other  as  a fool,  the  other  despises  the  one  as  a bar- 
barian too  dense  to  believe  a creed.  The  difference 
is  that  the  European  perceives  his  own  contempt,  but 
never  dreams  of  attributing  it  to  his  rival,  while  the 
rival,  fully  aware  of  his  own  feeling,  is  only  too  con- 
scious that  it  is  reciprocated  to  the  full.  “ What  a fool 
he  really  is1”  says  the  European  of  the  Asiatic  ; and 
“ How  can  God  have  created  a thing  like  that  ? ” 
says  the  Asiatic  of  the  European.  As  the  European 
has  never  to  obey,  his  contempt  is  often  kindly  ; as 
the  Asiatic  has  always  to  yield,  his  contempt  is 
often  vitriolic. 


' 

* 


INDEX 


A 

Abdallah,  Chief  of  Beni  Khazraj, 
184,  189,  192 

Abdallah,  Mahommed’s  father, 
160,  163 

Abdul  Hamid,  331,  336 
Abdul  Mutalik,  Mahommed’s 
grandfather,  164,  165,  176 
Abdul  Ruhaman,  disciple  of 
Mahommed,  170 
Abdurrahman  Khan,  Afghan 
reverence  for,  264 
Abu  Bekr,  169,  170,  175,  176 
Abu  Sofian,  leader  of  caravan, 
187,  189,  192,  196 
Taken  prisoner,  201 
Abu  Talib,  Mahommed’s  uncle, 
165,  171,  172 
Abyssinia,  171 
Prince  of,  199 
Abyssinians,  361 
/Eschylus,  306 
Afghanistan,  310 
Appeal  to  throne  in,  239 
Size  of,  5 
Afghans,  31 1,  314 
Africans,  distinctions  between 
Asiatics  and,  40 
Akaba  valley,  174 
Aladdin’s  cave,  essay  on  Seraglio 
Treasury,  293  seqq. 

Albanians,  335 
Alcohol  and  Hindoos,  57 
Aleutians,  377 


Alexander  of  Macedon,  157 
Attempts  to  conquer  Asia,  1,  21 
Alexandrian  massacre,  320 
Alexandrine  empire  overthrown 
by  “ Parthians,”  1 10 
Alhambra,  9 

Ali,  Mahommed’s  nephew,  169 
Alsatians’  attitude  towards  Ger- 
mans, 90 

America,  peopling  of,  20 
America  takes  Philippines,  4 
Amina,  Mahommed’s  mother,  164, 
170,  175  [206 

Amru,  Mahommed’s  lieutenant, 
Amurath  I.,  331 
Anatolia,  7 

Anglo-Indian  government,  146 
Antar,  epic  of,  307 
Antioch,  wealth  of,  296 
Arabs : — 

Character,  163 
Content,  205 
Courage,  220  seqq. 

Defeat  Romans,  220 

“ Fanaticism,”  316 

In  Algeria,  218 

In  China,  21 

Make  no  progress,  95 

Mountaineers,  161 

Negro  and,  40 

Of  Algiers,  226 

Of  Desert,  223,  226,  301  seqq. 

Of  S.  Spain,  226 
Soldiers,  222 
Victories,  6 


393 


394 


INDEX 


Arabi  Pasha,  309,  31 1 
Soldiers  of,  316,  320 
Arabia,  account  of,  160 
Oases,  161 

Population,  162  [163 

Bonds  of  national  cohesion, 
Tribal  government,  184 
Arabian  Caliphs,  early  conquests 
of,  220 

Archimedes,  306 
Armenia,  335 
Plunder  of,  299 
Armenians,  320 

Mussulmans  and,  51 
True  Asiatics,  312 
Asia — 

Barbarians  and,  24 
Cruelty  in,  261  seqq. 

Effect  of  increase  of  com- 
munication with  Europe,  137 
European  in,  320 
European  influence  on,  19  seqq. 
Greek  power  and,  21 
Law  in,  242 

Oppression  of  police,  240 
Population,  6 and  note 
Race-hatred  in,  214 
Romans  and,  22 
Separateness  of,  21,  28,  34,  90 
Size,  5 

Vastness  of  calamities  in,  278 
Will  conquest  vivify  ? 323  seqq. 

( See  also  Asiatics,  Hindoo,  and 
India) 

Asiatic  Turkey,  5 
Asiatics  — 

A typical,  285  seqq. 
Achievements,  8,  9 
“Afternoon  life,”  127,  128 
Basis  of  society,  12 1 
Cavalry,  11 

Characteristics,  10  seqq .,  29,  31, 
124,  143,  150,  263 
Christianity  and  Mahommedan- 
ism,  34 


Asiatics  ( continued ) — 

Comity,  50 
Contempt  for  life,  263 
Creeds,  13,  24,35,  95-  (^ee  also 
Mahommedanism  and  Hin- 
dooism) 

Distinctions  between  Africans 
and,  40 

Distinctions  between  Euro- 
peans and,  167,  261 
English  feeling  contrasted  with, 
129  seqq. 

“ Fanaticism,”  315 
Hatred  for  Europeans,  320 
Ideas  : reflex  effect  of,  157  seqq. 
Limitations,  9,  10  and  note 
“ Loyalty,”  3 1 1 
Morality,  14,  142 
Muscular  strength,  337 
“ Nationalists,”  312 
Notion  of  justice,  235  seqq. 
Patriotism,  308 

Preference  for  oriental  life,  120 
seqq. 

Soldiers,  7 

Systems  of  land  tenure,  12 
“ Traitor,”  313 

Vigilance  committees,  241.  ( See 
also  Hindoo,  Chinese,  Arabs) 
Asma,  189 
Assaye,  146 

Aurungzebe,  Emperor  of  Delhi, 
62,  238 

Australia,  clan  system,  379 
Australians,  trephining,  373 
Azimoollah  Khan,  enmity  to 
British,  217 

B 

Bab  insurrection,  262 
Baber,  62 
Baboo,  327 
Badr,  187 

Mahommed’s  camp  at,  195 
Bagdad,  305 


INDEX 


395 


Bahan,  Armenian  general,  221 
Balin  conquered  by  Hindoos,  21 
Bankok  treasures,  294 
“ Barbarians  ” and  Asia,  24 
“ Barbarism,”  Hindoo,  345 
Baroda,  monarchy  in,  103 
Bates, — in  forests  of  Brazil,  339 
Batouk,  335 

Bedouin  auxiliaries,  221 
Bedouins,  address  to,  301 
Beharees,  61 
Benares,  86,  94,  102 
Site  of,  8 

Bengal,  plantations  and  factories, 
325 

Bengalees,  83,  90 
“ A feeble  folk,”  337 
Increase  of,  328 
Prefer  Englishmen  to  Sikhs,  312 
Proud  of  Gour,  312 
Beni  Aamir,  207 
Beni  Amar,  194 
Beni  Asad,  194 
Beni  Aws,  184,  196 
Beni  Cainucaa  besieged,  189 
Beni  Ghatafan,  189 
Beni  Hawazin,  204 
Beni  Khazraj,  184 
Beni  Khozaa,  201 
Beni  Mustalick,  195 
Beni  Nadhir,  194 
Beni  Saym,  170 
Beni  Suleim,  189 
Beni  Zohra,  170 

Besant,  Mrs.,  and  transmigration, 

139 

Billal,  Mahommed’s  slave,  185 
Black  races  and  civilization,  92 
Blunt,  Wilfrid,  on  race-hatred  in 
India,  214 

Blyden — on  negro,  358 
Bokhara  palace,  294 
Bombay,  plantations  and  factories, 
325 

Bostra  166 


Boyle,  Frederick,  337 
Brahminism,  13 
Brahmin  : 

Attitudetowards  Christianity,  68 
Begging,  164 
Of  Madras,  338 
Sanctity  of,  274 
Brahmo-Somaj,  345 
Brazil,  forests  of,  339 
Bright,  John,  305 
Bronze  Age,  mode  of  life  in,  370 
Brown  races  in  Asia,  93 
Capabilities,  94 
Incapacities,  95 

Buddhism,  13,  36,  48  [14 1 

Leaves  great  problems  unsolved, 
Buddhist,  317 
Devotees,  138 
Thought,  139,  142,  145 
Burckhardt,  on  population  of 
Arabia,  162 
Burmese,  31 1 

Burton,  Captain,  on  negroes,  354 
C 

Calamities  in  Asia,  vastness  of, 
278  seqq. 

Californians  and  Chinamen,  316 
Caliphs,  story  of,  209. 

Cambodia,  282 

Canara,  native  Christian  village 
in,  74 

Canning,  Lord,  Sikhs  offer  to,  89 
Caribs  of  Cuba,  375 
Cashmere  shawl,  colours  in,  346 
Chaldaeans,  376 
Chalons,  battle  of,  6 
Charles  II.,  his  temperament,  127 
Chignon,  348 
China,  5 
Arabs  in,  21 

Difference  between  European 
and  natives,  150 
Europeans  in,  27 
Russia  and,  1 1 1 


396 


INDEX 


Chinese,  357 
Banking  system,  8 note 
Make  no  progress,  95 
Porcelain,  9 
Savages  and,  379 
Struggle  with  Tartars,  90 
Work  on  Yellow  river,  279,  283 
Christianity  and  Asia,  34 
Christianity  in  India.  ( See  under 
India) 

Civilization  in  East  and  West,  349 
Clive,  principles  of  government, 
149 

Clovis,  36,  69 

“ Colour,”  90,  91  and  note,  326 
Columbus,  Christopher,  157 
Colvin,  Sir  Auckland,  speech  at 
Lucknow,  244,  246 
Comtist-dreams,  306 
Confucius,  11,  13 
Conquerors  and  conquered,  90 
Constantinople,  land  attack  on, 
336 

Constantinople,  treasures  in,  296 
Copts,  320 
Cortez,  157 
Costa  Ricans,  338 
Creeds  of  Asiatic  origin,  13,  24, 
35)  95-  (See  also  Hindooism, 
Mahommedanism) 
Cromwell’s  Ironsides,  322 
Cross-breeds  of  Soudan  and  S. 

Africa,  359 
Crowther,  Bishop,  358 
Cruelty  in  Europe  and  Asia,  261 
seqq. 

Crusades,  137 
Crusaders  and  Asia,  24 
Cunningham,  General,  309 

D 

Dacoity,  99 
Dalhousie,  Lord — 

Act  to  repress  obscenity,  101 
On  Ranee  Chunda  Kour,  286 


Dalhousie,  Lord  ( continued ) — 
Organizes  Punjab  and  Burmah, 

215 

Damascus,  94 
Site  of,  8 
Sword  blades,  9 
Damoodah  river,  280 
De  Tocqueville,  359 
Deccan  Shahbazpore  island  sub- 
merged, 278 
Delescluze,  130 
Delhi,  313 
Delhi  massacre,  320 
Dewan,  meaning  of,  272 
Dhuleep  Singh.  {See  Maharaja 
Dhuleep  Singh) 

Digger  Indian,  383 
Diocletian’s  policy,  159 
Diogenes,  372 

Drummond,  Sir  John  Hay,  300 
Druses,  31: 

Dufferin,  Marquis  of,  86 
Manner  to  natives,  219 

E 

Edwardes,  Major,  196 
Egyptian  civilization,  374 
Egyptians,  313 
Emir  of  Afghanistan,  332 
Emperor  of  Delhi,  273,  274 
Emperors  of  Malabar,  273 
England — • 

Claims  Valley  of  Yang-tse,  4 
Territory  in  Asia,  2,  26 
English — 

And  Asiatic  feeling  contrasted, 
129  seqq 

And  Indians,  chasm  between, 90 
Manner  to  natives,  218 
Rule  in  India,  82  seqq.,  146 
Ethiopians,  381 
Europe — 

Attempts  to  conquer  Asia,  1,  17 
Cruelty  in,  261  seqq. 


INDEX 


397 


Europe  ( continued ) — 

Effect  of  increase  of  communi- 
cation with  Asia,  137 
Increase  of  population,  2 and 
note 

Influence  on  Asia,  19  seqq. 
Prospects  of  war  in  Asia,  37 
European — 

And  Asiatic  morality,  14 
Characteristics,  29 
In  Asia,  320 
Society,  basis  of,  121 

F 

“ Fanaticism”  in  East,  315 
Faqueers,  138 
Ferazee,  304 

Ficar,  Roman  general,  222 
Finlay,  life  among  Greeks,  150 
Florida,  Americans  in,  87 
Ford,  life  among  Spaniards,  150 
France  covets  possessions  in  Asia, 
4 

Francia,  Dr.,  343 
Frederick  the  Great,  139 
French  Buddhists,  139 
F rench  savages  had  caves,  376 

G 

Gaekwar,  meaning  of,  272 
German  Kaiser  and  Sultan  meet, 
330 

Germany  in  Anatolia  and  Shan- 
tung, 4 

Ghazees  as  soldiers,  182 
Gibbon’s  narrative  of  Mahommed, 
156 

Giffen,  Sir  Robert,  36 
Gobineau,  Comte  de,  work  on 
ethnology,  94  note 
Gorst,  Sir  John,  Indian  budget, 
228 

Gospels,  307 
Gour,  282,  312 
Graham,  Sir  Gerald,  222 


Granada  (Old),  94,  305 
Fall  of,  226 

Grant  Duff,  Sir  Mount-Stewart, 
328 

Address  at  Madras,  323 
Greek  power  and  Asia,  21 
Green  vault,  Dresden,  293 

H 

Hadhramaut,  206 
Hadrian’s  defensive  policy,  22 
Halima,  Mahommed’s  foster- 
mother,  164 

Hamerton,  life  in  France,  150 
Hamza,  171,  188 

Hashim,  Mahommed’s  great 
grandfather,  171,  176 
Hayes,  Captain,  and  fanaticism 
at  Lucknow,  321 
Hayti,  41,  355,  381 
Negroes  in,  93 
Haytians,  359 
Head,  G.  O.  A.,  307 
Hegira,  175 

Hemp  used  by  Scandinavians, 

375 

Hephsestion,  210 
Heraclius,  Emperor  of  Byzantium, 
199 

Defeated  by  Arabs,  220 
Himyarte  dynasty,  206 
Hindooism  : 

A congeries  of  creeds,  47 
And  Rana  of  Oodeypore,  131 
Core  of,  252,  seqq. 

Dogmas  of,  254 
Essence  of,  48 
External  forms  of,  254 
“ Freedom,”  257 
Hindoos,  317 
And  alcohol,  57 
Attitude  towards  Christianity, 
68 

“ Barbarism,”  345 
Early  conquests,  21,  23 


398 


INDEX 


Hindoos  ( continued ) — 

Moral  code,  350,  352 
Of  Dacca,  304 
Suruj  or  Sun,  134 
Hindostanees,  61,  83 
Hira  mountains,  168 
Hirsch,  Baron,  344 
Hoang-Ho  river,  280,  282 
Honan  province,  278,  283 
Horace  quoted  on  white  family, 
20 

Horsley,  on  savages,  372,  376 
Houssa,  304 

Huitzilopochtli  appears  to  Mexi- 
cans, 375 
Haweiria,  222 
Hyder  Ali,  11,  272 

I 

Ilbert  Bill,  108 

Imperial  palace,  Pekin,  treasures 
in,  293 
India — 

Abstemiousness  of  natives,  227 
seqq. 

Agriculture,  325 
As  Mahommedan  country,  59, 
62 

Careers  formerly  open  to  na- 
tives, 103. 

Caste  life,  54,  71,  153.  275 
Catastrophe  probable,  no,  118 
‘ Census  of  India,”  146 
Characteristics  of  natives,  151 
Chasm  between  Englishmen 
and  natives,  90,  97,  109,  137, 
150,  261. 

Christian  proselytism  in,  63 
seqq. 

Difficulties  in  way  of  expan- 
sion, 67,  71,  74 
Reason  of  failure,  81 
Christianity  and  Mahommedan- 
ism  in,  43  seqq. 

Civil  justice  in,  99 


India  ( continued ) — 

Codes,  329 

“ Colour,”  90,  91  and  note , 326 
Decay  of  Indian  art,  culture 
and  military  spirit,  102 
Drawbacks  to  English  rule, 
102,  106 

Early  marriages,  57 
Education  in,  326 
Education  of  princes,  291 
English  rule  in,  82  seqq. 

Principles  of,  148 
Eviction,  102 
Imperial  service,  88,  98 
Industries,  84 
Interestingness  of  life,  103 
Liberty  under  English  rule,  100 
Life  and  property  safe  under 
English  rule,  99 
Mental  seclusion  of,  146  seqq. 
Missionaries  and  natives,  15 1 
Missionaries  in,  74  seqq. 

Native  banking  system,  8 note 
Character,  249 
Desire  for  tea,  234 
Difference  between  English 
and,  96 

Dislikes  Englishman,  216 
Engineers  needed,  324 
Jewels,  247 

Makes  no  progress,  95 
Morale , 114 

Passion  for  place,  113,  116 
Press,  108 

Respect  for  pedigree,  272 
Soldiers,  83,  89 
Sources  of  reverence,  271 
Struggle  with  Mongols,  90 
Thrift,  231 

Need  for  mission  training  col- 
leges, 79 

Negro  army  proposed  for,  89 
No  white  men  settle  in,  86 
Peasantry,  101 
Peasants’  clothing,  245 


INDEX 


399 


India  ( continued )— 

Peasant’s  hut,  244 
Population,  83 
Race-hatred  in,  214 
Salt  tax,  230 
Sepoys,  106 

Service  commissions,  117 
“ Standard  of  comfort”  in,  244 
seqq. 

Star  of,  276 
“ Tanks,”  324 
Taxes,  100 

“ The  Empire,”  85,  88,  98 
Foundations  of,  89,  no,  214 
Variety  of  scenery,  268 
Variety  of  society,  268  seqq. 
Vastness,  83 

Warrior  races  of,  6.  ( See  also 

S.  India,  Hindoos,  Asia  and 
Asiatics) 

Indian  abstemiousness,  227  seqq. 
Indian  Mutiny,  26,  33,  62,  102 
Anecdote  of  missionary  in,  76 
Object  of,  107 

Indian  society,  variety  of,  268 
seqq. 

Indians  of  S.  America  and  Span- 
iards, 42 

Indians  of  Spanish  America,  148 
Irish  Nationalists,  313 
Irish  peasant’s  homesickness,  305 
Islam.  ( See  Mahommedanism) 
Italian  attitude  towards  Austrians, 
90 

Ivan  the  Terrible,  266 

J 

Jain  teacher,  372 
Janissaries,  25 
Japan,  rise  of,  27 
Japanese  military  system,  37 
Japanese  soldier,  7 
Java  conquered  by  Hindoos,  21, 
23 

Java,  Dutchmen  in,  87 


Jehad  (religious  war),  319 
Jehovah  appears  to  Abraham,  375 
Jenghiz  Khan,  knowledge  of 
mounted  infantry,  39 
Jerusalem,  170 
Jesuits  in  Paraguay,  343 
Jewish  ideal  of  Messiah,  70 
Jews,  93  note , 302,  338 
Mahommed  and,  184 
Jeypore,  site  of,  8 
Josephus,  source  of  antiquities, 
168 

Juarez,  328 
Judea  destroyed,  334 
Jung  Bahadoor,  262 
Jutee  Pershad,  85 

K 

Kantian  philosophy,  books  on, 
156 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  80 
Khadijah,  Mahommed’s  wife,  166, 
167,  169,  176 
Death,  172 

Khalid  defeats  Romans,  221 
Khama’s  country,  41 
Kheibar  conquered,  200 
Kincaid,  Dr.,  in  Burmah,  261 
Kings  of  Denmark,  “ absolute," 
35i 

Kipling,  Rudyard,  28 
Koh-i-noor,  290 
Koolin  Brahmin,  142,  350 
Koran,  180,  210,  307 
Commentators,  2x1 
Teaching  of,  318 
Koreish,  163 

Attitude  towards  Mahommed, 
171,  172,  174,  176,  181,  192, 
195,  200 

Koreish  caravans,  Mahommed’s 
expeditions  against,  186 
Koreitza  tribe,  195 

Besieged  and  slain,  196 
Koso,  Syrian  bishop,  165 


4oo 


INDEX 


L 

Lahej,  Governor  of  Aden  visits, 
161 

Lat,  fall  of,  203 
Guardians  of,  170,  17 1 
Layard,  Sir  Henry,  128 
Lethbridge,  Sir  Roper,  273,  275, 
276 

Golden  Book  of  India , 269 
Liberia,  negro  in,  93 
Life  of  Mahommed,  by  Sir  W. 

Muir,  review  of,  155  segq. 
London  sempstresses,  abstemious- 
ness of,  227 
Londoner,  370 

Louisiana,  colonization  in,  343 
Love  Sonnets  of  Proteus  quoted, 
301 

Lubbock,  Sir  John,  lecture  on 
savages,  378 

Lucknow,  fanatic  outbreaks  in, 
321 

Lyall,  Sir  Alfred,  17  note,  28 
M 

Maadd,  chieftain,  163 
Macaulay,  Lord,  on — 

English  Studies  in  India,  327 
Roman  Catholics,  30 
Madagascar  conquered  by 
Malays,  21,  23 

Madras  University,  Sir  Mount- 
Stewart  Grant  Duff’s  address 

to,  323 

Madras,  want  of  wealth,  325 
Maharaja  Dhuleep  Singh,  sketch 
of,  285  segq. 

Maharaja  of  Calicut,  273 
Maharaja  of  Coorg,  289 
Maharaja  of  Nepal,  274 
Maharaja  of  Travancore,  273,  274 
Maharana”  of  Oodeypore,  ac- 
count of  scenes  on  his  death, 
129  segq. 

Mahatmas,  139 


Mahmoud  destroys  Janissaries, 

33i 

Mahommed , Sir  W.  Muir’s  Life 
of  reviewed,  155  segq. — 
Address  to  men  of  Medina 
quoted,  205 

Aims  at  conquering  Arabia,  197 
Anecdote  quoted  illustrative  of 
Arab  manners,  201 
Arrives  at  Medina,  183 
As  legislator,' 1 79 
As  prophet,  169,  179 
Attends  pilgrimage  to  Mecca 
198 

Besieges  Koreitza,  196 
Character,  177 
Collects  tithes,  206 
Conquers  Kheibar,  200 
Death,  209 
Descent,  163 
Development,  156,  168 
Disciples,  170,  174 
Embassies,  199,  206 
Expedition  to  Tayif,  172 
Hegira,  175 
Hostilities,  186 
Jews  and, 184 
Marches  on  Mecca,  201 
Marches  on  Tayif,  204 
Organizes  faith,  185 
Personal  appearance,  178 
Private  life,  21 1 

Proclamation  of  universal  broth- 
erhood quoted,  207 
Relations  of  sexes  and,  212 
Repulsed  by  Koreish,  193 
Sketch  of  career,  160  segq. 
Visits  Mecca,  200 
Mahommedanism,  13,  36,  137 — 
Capital  punishments,  197 
Converts,  158  and  note 
Dogmas,  179,  181,  183,  185 
Equality,  190 
In  India,  43  segq. 

Inimical  to  progress,  61 


INDEX 


401 


Mahommedanism  ( continued ) — 
Living  law  of,  21 1 
Monotheism  of,  49 
Object  of,  206 
Rise  of,  24 
Slaves  and,  171,  191 
Sexual  ethics,  52 
Social  teaching  of,  276.  ( See 

also  Mussulman) 

Mahrattas,  61,  63,  83,  272 
Maine,  Sir  Henry,  device  for 
caste,  89 

Malacca,  first  war  in,  319 
Malays  conquer  Madagascar,  21, 

23 

Manchester,  306 
Manchuria,  4 
Mandelay  expedition,  323 
Mandelay  palace,  295 
Maoris,  135,  361,  374,  383 
Take  possession  of  New  Zea- 
land, 23 

Marshman,  on  Hindoo  chrono- 
logy, 132 

Massacre  in  East,  320 
Mecca,  163,  170,  200,  306 
A sanctuary,  172 
Pilgrimages  to,  173 
Taken  by  Mahommed,  202 
Medina,  156 

Besieged  by  Koreish,  195 
Converts  from,  173 
Mahommed  visits,  164,  183 
Mehemet  Ali,  191 
Melanesians,  372 
Mexican  civilization,  374 
Mikado,  position  of,  131 
Milton  : use  of  “ barbaric,”  347 
Minds  of  savages,  370 
Mirzapore  carpet,  colours  in,  346 
Missionaries  in  India,  74  seqq. 
Mississippi  dykes,  280 
Moffatt,  Dr.,  372 
Mogul  empire,  history  of,  62 
Mongol  victories,  6,  7 


Montauban,  General,  takes  sap- 
phire from  Summer  Palace, 
294 

Mooltan,  siege  of,  196 
Moplahs  as  soldiers,  182 
Morier,  on  Persian  character,  264 
Mount  Thaur,  cave  on,  175 
Muadz  ibn  Amr,  188 
Muir,  Sir  W. — 

Life  of  Mahommed  reviewed, 
155  seqq. 

On  Arab  soldiers,  223 
Mukoukas,  Governor  of  Egypt, 
199 

Mussulman — 

Caste,  55 

Characteristics,  61 
Converts,  182 
Equality,  332 
Fanaticism,  316 
In  India,  43  seqq. 

Missionaries,  46,  49,  50 
Reason  of  success,  81 
Slow  progress,  59 
Negro,  359 
Myrrhine  vases,  22 
Mysore,  iox 
Crown  of,  103 

N 

Nankin,  towers  of,  9 
Negro,  380 
And  Arabs,  40 
And  civilization,  92 
Condition  of,  in  United  States, 
362 

Future  of,  354^7^.  369 
In  Hayti,  93 
Mussulman,  359 
None  of  first  class  eminence, 
356 

Problem  in  America,  362 
Race  Hatred,  365 
Remarkable  for  muscular 
strength,  338  D D 


402 


INDEX 


Negroids  of  Australasian  Pacific, 
37i 

Nepal,  ruler  of,  132 
Nestorius  or  Sergius,.  168,  175 
New  Review  : Frederick  Boyle’s 
article  in,  337 

New  South  Wales,  Englishmen 
in,  87 

Nizam,  meaning  of,  272 
Norsemen  trade  with  Rome,  375 
Northern  Africa,  Roman  and 
Vandal  invasions  of,  340 

O 

Obeida,  188 

Ohod,  Mahommed  defeated  at, 
193 

Oliphant,  Laurence,  leading  idea 
of,  138 

Omar,  171,  191 
Election  of,  209 
Ooaeypore,  129 
Rana  of,  13 1 seqq. 

Osma  invested  with  supreme  com- 
mand, 208 
Osman  Digna,  223 
Othman,  disciple  of  Mahommed, 
170 

Descendants  of,  331 
Othman,  house  of,  296 
Decaying,  336 

Ottoman  empire  : causes  of  its 
endurance,  331,  332  334 
Ottoman  soldiers,  335 
Ozza,  fall  of,  203 

Guardians  of,  170,  171 

P 

Paraguay,  Jesuits  in,  343 
Parisian,  370 

“ Parliament  of  Religions,”  253 
Pashas,  despots,  333 
Pax  Britannica,  98 
Peguans  prefer  Englishmen  to 
Burmese,  312 
Pellew,  Admiral,  225 


Persia,  5 

Beats  back  Rome,  22 
State  of,  hi 
Struggle  with  Arabs,  90 
Phidias,  306 
Pindarees,  63 
Plassey,  battle  of,  146 
Playfair,  Captain,  206 
Po  and  Lombard  plain,  278 
Bed  of,  280 

Poles’  attitude  towards  Russians, 
90 

Polygamy,  52 
Pompey’s  intrigues,  159 
Poushkine  quoted,  39 
Prendergast,  General,  in  Mande- 
lay,  294 

Prinsep,  T.,  prophecy  on  Tartar 
tribe,  in 
Psalms,  307 
Pundit,  327 

R 

Race-hatred  in  Asia  214 
Rajpoots,  61,  350 
Ramadhan,  annual  fast,  185 
Rana  of  Oodeypore,  relation  to 
“ Hindooism,”  131 
Scenes  on  his  death,  130,  133 
Ranee  Chunda  Kour,  286 
Red  Indian,  357,  358 
Belief  in  future  state,  375 
Reincarnations.  (See  Transmigra- 
tion) 

Ripon,  Lord,  and  Ilbert  Bill,  108 
Riza  Pasha  opposes  judicial  re- 
form, 235 

Robinson,  J.  C.,  account  of  Sul- 
tan’s treasury,  293 
Robinson,  Rev.  John,  anecdote 
of,  76 

Roman  empire  overthrown  by 
Arabs  and  Turks,  no 
Roman  iack  of  imagination,  23 
Romans  and  Asia,  22 


INDEX 


403 


Runjeet  Singh,  11,  285 
Father  a prefect,  103 
Sikh  admiration  for,  264 
Runn  of  Cutch,  salt  marshes,  269 
Russia — 

Hatred  for  Jew,  320 
In  N.  Asia,  2,  26,  11 1 
Railway  to  Pacific,  27 
Seizes  Manchuria,  4 
Russian  literature,  139 
Rustem  Pasha,  296 

S 

Saad,  Mahommed’s  disciple,  170 
Sad  ibn  Muadz,  196 
Said,  Mahommed’s  slave,  356 
St.  John,  account  of  Hayti,  354 
St.  Sophia,  cathedral  of,  336 
Crypts  of,  298 
Samarcand  treasures,  294 
Sanskrit  literature,  326 
Satsuma  ware,  346 
Savage  races,  progress  of,  378 
Savages,  minds  of,  370 
Scandinavians  knew  power  of 
hemp,  375 

Scindiah  dynasty,  103 
Senior,  Mr.,  122 
Sepoys,  106 
And  officers,  217 
In  Red  sea,  317 
“ Nationalists,”  312 
Seraglio  Treasury,  296,  297 
Sergius  or  Nestorius,  168,  175 
Seringapatam,  siege  of,  182 
Settlement  officers,  231,  270 
Shah  of  Persia,  295 
Shereefal  palace,  Morocco,  300 
Siam,  size  of,  5 
Sikh— 

As  soldier,  7,  61,  63 
Offer  to  Lord  Canning,  89 
War  (second),  286 
Simpson,  Mrs.,  122 
Sirves,  King  of  Persia,  199 


Sivaites,  350 
Sivajee,  103 

Slaves  and  Mahommedanism, 
171,  191 

Socialism  in  France,  214 
Sons  of  Saad,  164 
Soudanese  courage,  338 
South  India — 

Need  for  engineers,  324 
Social  systems,  325 
Southern  States  of  Union,  white 
mechanics  of,  340 
Spaniards  and  Indians  of  S. 
America,  42,  217 

Spaniards  in  N.  and  S.  America,  87 
Spaniards  of  Mexico,  339 
Stone  Age,  mode  of  life  in,  368, 
370,  372,  376 

Stowe,  Mrs.,  on  negro,  355 
Sudra,  164 
Suez  canal,  283 

Sultan  and  German  Kaiser  meet, 
330 

Sultan’s  library,  299 
Sunyasees,  138 
Sura,  182  ; quoted,  194 
Swami  Vivekdnandd,  pamphlet 
253  seqq. 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  criticisms  of  Walt 
Whitman,  139 
Syria,  199 

Mahommed  visits,  165 
T 

Tagore  family  tradition,  287 
Taj  at  Agra,  9,  62 
Tanjore,  artificial  lakes  of,  102 
Tantia  Topee’s  recruits,  102 
Tartar  of  Samarcand,  357 
Tasmanian,  382,  383 
Tayif,  172 

Blockaded,  205 
Teheran  treasures,  295 
Tej  Singh,  309 
Texas^  wild  life  of,  105 


404 


INDEX 


Thebaid,  monks  of,  376 
Theebau,  King,  261 
Theodoric,  221 
Thibet,  5 

Thiers,  quoted  on  administrative 
work,  125 
Thoreau,  250 
Thuggeeism,  350 
Thugs,  99,  143 
Times — 

Letter  from  “ A Member  of 
Brahmo-Somaj  ” in,  345 
Letter  of  Lieut.  E.  C.  Yate  in, 
129  seqq. 

On  “ Census  of  India,”  146 
Timour  the  Lame,  descendants 
of,  103 

Tinnevelly,  Christian  converts  in, 
64 

Tippoo’s  Hindoo  converts,  182 
Titus’  destruction  of  Judea,  334 
Tod,  Colonel,  “Rajasthan,”  129 
Toussaint  l’Ouverture,  356 
Transmigration,  139 
Belief  in,  14,  48 
Trephining,  373 
Trichinopoly  goldsmiths,  9 
Trollope,  Mrs.,  on  negro,  355 
Tropical  colonization,  337 
Truce  of  God,  99 
Turanians,  325 

Turk,  a Mussulman  and  an  Asiatic, 
314 

As  soldier,  7 
Turkey — 

Financial  difficulties,  336 
History  of  grand  viziers,  333 
Why  she  lives,  330  seqq. 
Turkish  social  life,  122 

U 

Uganda,  41 


Upper  India,  plains  of,  161 
Upper  valley  of  Nile,  black  tribes 
in,  381 

V 

Vatican  collections,  293 
Vaudooism,  381 
Veddahs,  380 
Vefyk  Pasha,  124,  125 
On  “ Liberty,”  126 
On  life  in  Paris  and  Turkey, 
122 

Vesuvius,  284 
Vindhya  valleys,  268 

W 

Wahabees,  strictest  Mussulman 
sect,  210 

Weme,  description  of  negro,  359, 

381 

White  colonists  in  Tropics,  342 
White  races,  special  faculty  of,  94 
Whitman,  Walt,  139 
Wilkins,  Mary,  on  “ grip,”  289 
Windsor  castle,  293 
Winter  palace,  St.  Petersburg,  293 
Wright,  Colonel,  135 
Writing,  invention  of,  374 

Y 

Yakusa,  battle  of,  220,  222 
Yate,  Lieut.  E.  C.,  letter  in  Times , 
129  seqq. 

Yellow  river,  inundation,  278 
seqq. 

Yemen,  princes  of,  206 
Yermak  river,  221 

Z 

Zeid,  Mahommed’s  freedman,  169, 
172,  186,  190,  191 
Zoheir, disciple  of  Mahommed,i7o 


Eutler  & Tanner,  The  elwood  Printing  Works,  Frome,  and  London. 


* 


- 


Date  Due 

I~  1.  ..  ± „ 

•M 

T 

<f) 

